How to allow popups when you need to?

LorenAmelang

I just wasted way too much time on a JavaScript page that supposedly returns results in a popup window. Nothing ever appeared, whether Popups were set to "Ask" or "Allow". The site I tried to use,
http://www.hemingways.org/GIDinfo/sage/test.htm
shows a "Test Page" to check for browser compatibility, which pops up even if Vivaldi is set to Block popups. But nothing happens when the Results are supposed to pop up. (For testing you can skip all the questions and scroll to the bottom of the page immediately.)

In IE, the initial "Test Page" is recognized as a popup, and it asks what to do for the site. And the Results popup appears as designed.

Testing with
http://www.popuptest.com/
it not only can't show the popups, it seems blocked from trying - the progress bar in the multiple popup tests doesn't move at all. In Firefox the progress bar zips across, even when the popups don't appear.

Searching here finds references to
vivaldi://settings/content/popups
but that must be obsolete, it just shows me the current Startup Settings. Is there some hidden control that overrides Webpages -> Default Permissions ?

And then there is
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/4944/is-there-seriously-no-way-to-allow-popups-in-this-browser/6

"The problem with "allowing" popups is that a popup is a window. Vivaldi windows are created with a wholly different technology than Chrome windows. Hence, to "allow" popups, a whole new batch of code has to be written so that "popups" can be valid Vivaldi windows. Trying to create Chrome windows in Vivaldi will not really work. This also means that extensions that create/use popups are also severely limited or don't work at all. Hence, there will be a lot more code-writing before popups in general, or specific to extensions, will work."

Maybe that's obsolete? Or maybe my page from "10 September 2002" is too obsolete to work outside IE?

I realize most people want to hide popups, but when there is an explicit setting that says Allow, I'd hope Vivaldi would allow them!

nomadic

@LorenAmelang On the right side of the address bar, there should be an icon if popups are blocked.

You can click on the icon and choose Always Allow or click on one of the popup links to open it.

Another option is to go to site settings and allow popups on the site:

Go to the padlock, site info, on the left side of the address bar → click on Site Settings at the bottom of the menu.
Scroll down to Pop-ups and redirects and choose Allow.

Streptococcus

The extension Policy Control allows me to control popups plus 10 other things.

LorenAmelang

@nomadic - Thank You! All I get is this tiny red dot, which I'd never notice on my 3000x2000 screen:

Interesting it says "Block Popups" when Settings is set to "Ask" - maybe this little icon is considered "asking"? But no popup appeared when I had Settings at "Allow". Maybe even then you have to notice the dot and manually click the links?

Clicking on the two apparent links makes them disappear, but doesn't show any popups. The Closed Tabs list shows "Blank Page", probably for them (I retried once...)

Wait! The missing popup is in a new Vivaldi Window, that did not come to the front or give any hint of its existence! At least it is there... It definitely was not without clicking the red dot and links, even with Settings at "Allow".

The http://www.popuptest.com site tests show the same red dot, but draws the popups above the current window instead of behind it if you click the links. Choosing "Always Allow" does not allow them, at least not without reloading the site.

Apparently Settings -> Webpages -> Default Permissions -> Allow can't do what this address bar icon can?

Pathduck

@LorenAmelang You need to differentiate between types of popups:

Initiated from user actions (clicking an element), which are usually allowed by default regardless of blocker setting.
Initiated by scripts in the page, and (hopefully) blocked.

I have popups blocked globally. It's extremely rare I need to explicitly allow popups from a site these days. A well-behaved site should warn you to allow them, as all browsers block by default now. Popups were a thing of 15-20 years ago. Web developers have found new ways to annoy us now, without the need for popups...

The ones in the popuptest page you linked should all be blocked, but not the ones from the "good" popups page: http://www.popuptest.com/goodpopups.html

The Sage test page just seems buggy, and after all it seems to have not been updated for nearly two decades, so not sure what to expect in terms of functionality. I'm not able to get a popup either, but I just randomly selected a couple options and clicked process.

It does work without a hitch in Firefox though, so it might be a bug in Vivaldi. Feel free to report it here:
https://vivaldi.com/bugreport/

LorenAmelang

@Pathduck - So true about the SAGE site, it is not only technically obsolete, the content is laughably obsolete and being shared now as humor rather than insight.

Interesting your Firefox showed the Results. Mine didn't, even after I turned off every blocker I could find. I had to go back to Internet Explorer, which put up a huge "popup blocked" dialog and showed the Results when I agreed.

Vivaldi actually performed quite well, IF you know to look for the tiny red dot, and to check for a new window that didn't appear on top. (And that could well be a Windows bug, half of new windows on this Surface Book appear somewhere down the stack behind others, or on top but inactive.)

But here's a current page Vivaldi can't seem to show - maybe your type 1:
https://doxy.me/precall-test/
It gets down to testing the microphone, and can't show the camera access dialog (this is the Firefox version:

Vivaldi shows no red dot, no hidden windows, nothing - even if the mic and cam are set to "Allow". I begin to think those Settings choices aren't really in control...

Obviously a different issue from the SAGE popup, but still seems like a popup issue.

Pathduck

@LorenAmelang That's not a popup, that's just the browser asking for permissions. If Vivaldi is already set to allow, then you won't see it

I just hope you've not globally set cam and mic to allowed, that would be a Very Bad Idea. Set globally to Ask or Block and then enable when needed.

LorenAmelang

@Pathduck - Setting Allow didn't change anything, the web app just hangs there no matter what Setting I choose, so I set it back to Ask. Those changes are immediate, right? You don't have to restart Vivaldi or something?

Is there some other setting that would prevent Ask from appearing? A per-site setting? A test page for the Ask services?

Pathduck

@LorenAmelang If you've set the site to Allow or Ask and nothing happens, or it doesn't notify you to ask, then that's another issue, either with the site or your settings, and not related to classic "popup windows" at all.

Best to open a separate thread about that specific site. Does it work in other web apps like Skype etc? You can test if they're supposed to work here:
https://webcammictest.com/

Tons of similar sites for testing:
https://duckduckgo.com/?kae=t&t=vivaldi&q=webcam+microphone+test&ia=web

I can't really be of much help as I don't have a webcam or mic connected...

LorenAmelang

@Pathduck - Thanks for the test links. They all put a red dot on a tiny camera icon in the address bar, and work. "Dokbot" doesn't. I think maybe I need to report to them instead of here...

LorenAmelang

Sorry to keep posting these... But they keep happening, and seem related.

So yesterday my new cellphone wouldn't call out, and I needed to use my Google Voice account to call the company.

I have:
nkeimhogjdpnpccoofpliimaahmaaome : Google Hangouts : version 1_3_15
Go to:
https://hangouts.google.com/
(With contacts and registration at Google)
Used to work...

Everything worked except Vivaldi doesn't request access to my mic, and the other party can't hear me. No popup dialogs, no red dot in the address bar, no clue about mic access.

Except one time... No idea what was different, but after I hung up the useless call, a new Vivaldi window appeared, at the top left of my screen, with its address bar at the top (mine are always at the bottom) and a tiny camera icon with a red dot! It was not alive, clicking the dot didn't show the access dialog. Never saw that again through several tries.

This works great in Firefox...

Zalex108

@LorenAmelang

Hi,
There's a Bug related to Extensions and Settings PopUp.

Try to enable those Permissions right from the Extension Settings.
You may need to access using its Address Bar - PadLock.

--
"Off Topic Tip"
Follow the Signature's Backup | Reset link.
Take the opportunity to start a Backup plan and even create a Template Profile.

SyncBack | Synkron helps.

Windows 7 (x64)
Vivaldi Reset | Back up

LorenAmelang

@Zalex108 - Thank You! That fixes Google Hangouts (screenshot before Allow):
Hangouts crop.png
Looks like that setting ignores the ones in Settings -> Webpages -> Default Permissions? That was on Ask. Or does that mean something somehow specifically set Hangouts to Block? I certainly didn't!

Doesn't fix the Dokbot site:
Dokbot padlock crop.png
"Sound" wasn't visible until the process got to the sound test. Changing it to Allow didn't help, nor did reloading after the change. Maybe there is a Camera item that isn't getting shown?

Yes, in Site Settings there are Camera and Microphone, Blocked. But setting Allow still doesn't make this site work. Oh, Well, keep Firefox handy...

Zalex108

Tried on doxy.me/precall-test and here also, doesn't work, even whit Cam and Mic enabled.

For now, then FF.

--

Specific Site Settings, overwrite the "Default" Settings.

--

For the web about PopUps, I've tested with an Extension and it works.
As a WorkAround for it's speed would be interesting until the fix arrive.

Policy Control