Between creating the most loved or hated design element on your site comes down to shades of gray, literally. Email subscription forms are available in dozens of different configurations, including:popovers pop up slides light boxes a common email subscription form used by digital marketers is the email subscription form lightbox overlay. What is a lightbox overlay email subscription form? For those who need a quick recap, a lightbox is a webpage overlay that encourages your website visitors to sign up for your mailing list. What differentiates these overlays from a traditional popup, for example, is that the overlay takes up the entire screen. Although the form itself is small, there is a gray or white background
That half blocks the background material, forcing the reader to pay attention to the registration form. I came across an interesting study on "Lightbox company mailing list overlay dialogs" via jakob nielsen's alertbox blog. In one example, it shows a lightbox that's not at all different from the one we showed in our previous roundup of email subscription forms:lightbox overlay example source: when it comes to light boxes like this, nielsen raves, calling them "Interaction design technique of the year" in his 2008 study of good application user interfaces. He reiterated
That point in march, saying:"In last week's study, this (lightbox design) performed well, just as many other lightbox designs performed wonderfully in our previous usability studies." however, in the same study, nielsen goes on to slam another overlay dialog, calling it a "Loathsome perversion" and "No better than a pop-up, which is the most hated advertising design." here is the registration form mentioned:lightbox overlay example source: so what makes the webjet lightbox superior to this overlay? The dimming effect. This is eloquently expressed in the 2008 study, which states:“the advantage of the lightbox is obvious: it is impossible for users to neglect the only bright part of the screen. This is in stark
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