Pop-up ad facts for kids
Pop-up ads, or simply pop-ups, are a type of online advertising you might see on the World Wide Web. Imagine you are browsing a website, and suddenly a new, smaller window appears on top of what you are looking at. That's a pop-up! These windows usually contain an advertisement. They are often created by special code on a website.
A different kind of ad is called a pop-under. This ad also opens a new window, but it appears behind the website you are currently viewing. Pop-unders don't interrupt you right away. You usually only see them when you close or minimize your main browser window. This can make it harder to figure out which website actually created the pop-under ad.
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The History of Pop-Ups
Pop-up ads first appeared in the late 1990s on a website hosting service called Tripod.com. A person named Ethan Zuckerman says he created the first pop-up ads. He used a special coding ability in web pages to open new windows. He did this because advertisers were worried their ads were showing up next to content they didn't like. Zuckerman later said he was sorry for how annoying pop-up ads became.
Blocking Pop-Up Ads
Many people find pop-up ads annoying. Sometimes, they can even cause problems or lead to unwanted downloads. Because of this, some users choose not to click on anything inside a pop-up window. They might even leave the website that created the pop-up or block all pop-ups entirely.
Opera was one of the first major web browsers to include tools to block pop-up ads. The Mozilla browser later improved this by blocking pop-ups that appeared when a page first loaded. By the early 2000s, most popular web browsers, except for Internet Explorer, allowed users to block almost all unwanted pop-ups. In 2004, Microsoft added pop-up blocking to Internet Explorer with Windows XP SP2. Today, most modern browsers have built-in tools to stop pop-ups. You can also find other tools, called ad blockers, that help stop ads.
Tricky "Close" Buttons
Sometimes, pop-up ads try to trick you. They might have buttons that look like a "close" or "cancel" option. But if you click them, they might do something unexpected. For example, they could open a *new* pop-up ad or even start downloading an unwanted file onto your computer. It's important to be careful and make sure you are clicking a real close button, usually found in the corner of the window.
Ads That Bypass Blockers
Some ads are designed to get around pop-up blockers.
In-Page Pop-Ups (Hover Ads)
An in-page pop-up, sometimes called a hover ad, uses special code to appear directly on the webpage you are viewing. It looks like a pop-up window, but it's actually part of the page itself. These ads can "hover" over the content, making it hard to read. Because they are part of the webpage, regular pop-up blockers often can't stop them. However, other tools like AdBlock and Adblock Plus can often block these types of ads.
Unexpected Website Redirects
Sometimes, when you click a link, or even just browse a website, you might be suddenly sent to a different page. This is called a URL redirection. Often, this new page is an advertisement. In some cases, the website you were on might open the ad in a new tab, then change the content of your original tab to another ad. This can be very confusing and frustrating.
Different Kinds of Pop-Ups
Common Pop-Up Situations
- Be careful when downloading content like images or free music from websites you don't fully trust. Some of these downloads can trigger unwanted pop-ups.
- Many websites use pop-ups for helpful reasons. For example, they might show extra instructions when you are filling out a form. This helps you without making you lose any information you've already typed. Most pop-up blockers allow these helpful kinds of pop-ups.
- Some online stores use pop-ups that appear when you are about to leave their site. These are called exit intent pop-ups. They might offer you a discount to try and make you stay and buy something.
- Some programs, like certain software installers, use pop-ups to guide you through the installation process.
- On many web browsers, if you hold down the Ctrl key while clicking a link, it might bypass the pop-up blocker.
- Clicking on one pop-up, even by accident, can sometimes cause many other pop-up ads to open.
Pop-Under Ads: The Hidden Ones
Pop-under ads are similar to regular pop-ups, but they are designed to be less noticeable at first. Instead of appearing in front of your main browser window, they open *behind* it. This means you won't see them right away. You usually only discover them when you close or minimize your main window. This makes them sneaky because you might not realize they are there until much later.
Pop-under ads work by using special code to open a new window and then quickly send it to the back of your screen. Modern web browsers are designed to block new windows from opening automatically. To get around this, pop-under ads often trigger when you click your mouse, even if you're just selecting text. This makes the browser think you *intended* to open a new window, so it doesn't block the ad.
Learn More
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