Lightboxes are they OK?

[Feliciaf]

Hi

I was wondering whether anyone has any feedback / advice on the use of YUI based lightboxes.

We are considering using these as our "pop-up" windows (if that's OK for an expression to use) but we're not sure whether they classed as "Ok and safe, the right thing" to use as opposed to just the plain old open a new window (which the client really doesn't want) or the ole pop-up window which we would prefer NOT to use.

Your advice would greatly be appreciated.
PS: Do you know of any sites that use them well?
Cheers

[Tailslide]

There are a few around which seem to vary in their functionality - some better than others.

My personal view is that they're ok as long as you choose one that is keyboard navigable (i.e. you can get out of it with the keyboard) and as long as you give instructions on how to use it. I tend to include these instructions in the captions (e.g. Click Close or press ESC to exit) along with the actual caption.

With JS off they tend to revert to normal links so that element's ok too.

[Feliciaf]

OK thanks very much for your feedback.