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 Popup blockers and WAM
Pop up blockers have become an increasing issue, not only during normal web surfing, but with legitimate web-based applications (email, calendaring, etc). They also have an effect on WAM and can be a common source of problems, especially when initially setting up Rhythmyx on your system.
What are Pop-Up Blockers?
Pop up blockers are small programs that prevent web browsers from opening up new windows when requested to by web pages. Now normally (and for a good reason) they are a benefit. They prevent unwanted “ads” from popping up all over the place, and they even have a security benefit. But like everything else, there are legitimate uses for pop-up windows, and sometimes the popup blocker can't tell the difference.
Take for example, online banking. When you first go to most bank websites, you are presented with an option to login to your account. When you click on that link - the web page then opens a new window- so your login information is sent over a secure connection back to the banks servers. Now because your pop up blocker only sees that a new window has been requested by the web page, it prevents it from opening; thus causing your attempt to login to your bank to fail.
In the case of WAM! When you first go into the content explorer (the page that lists all the files for your community) and try to open one of those files for editing or previewing, WAM attempts to open that page in a new window. If you have a pop up blocker enabled, then WAM can’t open that file and it generates an error.
Types of pop up blockers
There are three basic types of pop up blockers.
We'll take a look at all three types really briefly.
Operating System SECURITY LEVEL POP UP BLOCKERS
With the Release of WindowsXP Service Pack 2; Microsoft included a pop up blocker for Internet Explorer. This pop up blocker is automatically activated when Service Pack 2 is installed. It's accessed through the Internet Options Control Panel under the Privacy Tab *Note the two places you can access the pop up blocker. You can also access the Internet Options Control Panel by going: Start à Control Panels à Internet Options Once inside the Internet options panel, click on the Privacy tab: INSTALLED BROWSER SPECIFIC (AOL and Google Toolbars)
These classes of pop up blockers are usually installed as components into a browser in specific components (like toolbars). Both Google and Yahoo use this method.
Yahoo Toolbar:
Click on the Pop up Blocker button: Google Toolbar:
Click on the Pop Up Blocker button: the other kind are third-party solutions, and they usually come either stand alone or as part of an “Internet Security” suite like Symanatac or McAfee.
Using Pop Up Blockers with WAM:
When using WAM, and you attempt to open up a content item for either preview or editing, and you have a popup blocker engaged, you get an error like this:
Now the trick is just figuring out which pop up blocker is causing the problem (it may even be more than one).
In the case of the Windows Service Pack Two blocker, you can see if it’s blocking content by looking at the top of the browser window. If it’s currently blocking a pop put you’ll see this:
If you click on the yellow bar, a pop up menu will appear: You should choose “Always Allow Pop-ups from this site. . .” this will always allow pop ups that originate from http://wam.broward.edu or from http://wam2.broward.edu . . .” thus saving you future problems.
If you choose Temporarily Allow Pop-ups it will allow them only for this session. Once you close the browser, the next time you launch it, the pop-ups will be blocked again.
With the Yahoo toolbar, if you click on the pop up blocker icon, you get this menu: Click on the pop up blocker in the tool bar and choose “Always Allow Pop-Ups from…”
Click on wam.broward.edu under “Sources of Recently Blocked Pop-ups:” and choose Allow.
*The same technique works on the Google Toolbar as well.*
It’s important to make sure that the following sites are allowed in your pop up blockers:
Third-Party
If you have any third party pop-up blockers, you’ll have to refer to the documentation for your particular product.
It is possible to have multiple pop-up blockers running at the same time. You may need to run through several products in order to get all the pop-up blockers on your system to allow WAM to function.
Some popular third party popup blockers include McAfee's Privacy Center, AdsKiller, Popup Cop, and the multitude of free alternatives on the internet such as the popular Pop-Up Stopper. Each program has different functions for allowing and disallowing popups on your browser which may interfere with the WAM interface.
As always if you have any questions or run into any problems you can send an e-mail to helpdesk@broward.edu | ||
Click on Settings
Pop Up Blockers and WAM
