Question: Create a Web Page Pop Up without Toolbars

Doug,
I'm trying to design the framework for online software interface and I would like to know two things. How can I make it so that the interface looks the same in every browser (sans scrollbars). Secondly how can I design the web page as a pop up that has no toolbars above it. It needs to be the blue title bar and then the interface, nothing in between. I use Dreamweaver to create these, thanks!

Answer

As it turns out, what you're asking for is something I set up recently on one of my sites: Quote Puzzler. If you click on the samples page and then click one of the sample buttons, you'll see something similar to what you are looking for. I did this with JavaScript. The code behind the button you clicked for the pop up window looks like this:

<input type=button name="go" value="Go!" onclick="window.open('page.asp','QuotePuzzler','width=786,height=600,left='+((screen.width-786)/2)+',top='+((screen.height - 600)/2)+',toolbar=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=yes, status=no,resizable=no');">


Now, that code may have more in it than you want, but you can see the various options like toolbar, menubar, scrollbars, etc. Also, the part with screen.width and screen.height allows me to center the pop up window in the screen.

Regarding the question of making the interface look the same in all the browsers, unfortunately browsers are very inconsistent in how they implement the code they receive, so the only thing you can do is try out different combinations to find out what works well. For example, I seem to remember that at least one web browser I've tried does not like this combination: scrollbars=yes,status=no; if you tell it you don't want a status bar, it puts in the scrollbar whether you want it or not. Thus, you have to decide which is more important, having no status bar or having no scrollbar.

Finally, don't be fooled into thinking that just because you've taken away browser capabilities (toolbars) that you've limited what your users can do on this page; savvy internet users can figure out ways to bypass your javascript and open the page with full capabilities.