This is How to Keep Your WordPress Modal Open Even When Clicked Outside of It
One of the most common issues WordPress website owners face is keeping their modal or popup open, even when users click outside of it. This can be a frustrating experience for visitors and negatively impact your conversion rates.
Traditionally, WordPress modals and popups would automatically close when a user clicks outside of the modal. While this is a common default behavior, it's not always the best user experience, especially for certain types of popups and modals.
For example, if you have a lead capture form or a time-sensitive offer, you want to ensure that the user stays focused on the modal and doesn't accidentally close it. In these cases, keeping the modal open, even when clicked outside of, is crucial.
Unfortunately, there isn't a widely accepted solution for this problem in the WordPress community. Many plugin developers and website owners have struggled to find a reliable way to achieve this functionality.
In this article, we'll explore a custom WordPress popup plugin that provides an elegant solution to this problem. By the end, you'll know how to keep your WordPress modals and popups open, even when users click outside of them.
Understanding the Default Behavior of WordPress Modals
Before we dive into the solution, let's first understand the default behavior of WordPress modals and popups.
When a user clicks to open a modal or popup in WordPress, the default behavior is for the modal to close when the user clicks outside of it. This is a common user experience design pattern, as it allows users to easily dismiss the modal and return to the main content of the page.
However, as mentioned earlier, this default behavior isn't always ideal, especially for certain types of modals or popups. For example, if you have a lead capture form or a time-sensitive offer, you want to ensure that the user stays focused on the modal and doesn't accidentally close it.
To overcome this default behavior and keep the modal open, even when clicked outside of, you'll need to implement some custom JavaScript and CSS code. This is where the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin comes in.
Introducing the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin
The WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin is a powerful and feature-rich solution that allows you to create and customize various types of modals and popups for your WordPress website. One of the standout features of this plugin is its ability to keep the modal open, even when the user clicks outside of it.
Here's how the plugin works:
-
Easy Modal Creation: The plugin provides a user-friendly interface for creating and customizing your modals and popups. You can choose from various pre-designed templates or create your own custom designs.
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Advanced Targeting and Triggering: The plugin offers advanced targeting and triggering options, allowing you to display your modals and popups based on specific user actions, page views, time on site, and more.
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Custom Behavior Control: This is where the "keep modal open" feature comes into play. The plugin allows you to configure the behavior of your modals, including the ability to keep them open even when the user clicks outside of the modal.
To enable this feature, simply navigate to the plugin's settings and find the "Overlay Click Behavior" option. Here, you can choose to keep the modal open when the user clicks outside of it.
![WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin - Overlay Click Behavior Setting]()
By enabling this setting, the plugin will automatically prevent the modal from closing when the user clicks outside of it. This ensures that your visitors remain focused on the modal's content, leading to improved conversion rates and a better overall user experience.
Implementing the "Keep Modal Open" Feature
Now that you understand the problem and the plugin's solution, let's dive into the technical implementation.
Under the hood, the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin uses a combination of JavaScript and CSS to achieve the "keep modal open" functionality. Here's a breakdown of how it works:
- Overlay Click Event Listener: The plugin attaches a click event listener to the modal overlay (the semi-transparent background behind the modal). When the user clicks on this overlay, the plugin's JavaScript code intercepts the click event and prevents the modal from closing.
// Attach click event listener to the overlay
document.querySelector('.wp-ultimate-popup-overlay').addEventListener('click', (event) => {
// Prevent the modal from closing
event.stopPropagation();
});
- CSS Pointer Events: The plugin also applies a CSS
pointer-events: none;
rule to the modal overlay. This ensures that the overlay doesn't interfere with the user's ability to interact with the modal content, as the overlay becomes transparent to click events.
.wp-ultimate-popup-overlay {
pointer-events: none;
}
- Disabling Default Modal Closing Behavior: To fully prevent the modal from closing when the user clicks outside of it, the plugin also disables the default modal closing behavior. This is typically achieved by adding a
data-modal-close="false"
attribute to the modal element.
<div class="wp-ultimate-popup" data-modal-close="false">
<!-- Modal content goes here -->
</div>
By combining these techniques, the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin effectively keeps your modal or popup open, even when the user clicks outside of it. This ensures that your visitors remain focused on the modal's content, leading to improved conversion rates and a better overall user experience.
Real-World Examples and Use Cases
Now that you understand the technical implementation, let's explore some real-world examples and use cases where the "keep modal open" feature can be beneficial.
Lead Capture Popups: One of the most common use cases for this feature is lead capture popups, such as email signup forms or content gated offers. By keeping the modal open, you can increase the chances of the user completing the form and becoming a lead.
Time-Sensitive Offers: Another great use case is for time-sensitive offers or promotions. If you have a limited-time discount or a special deal, you want to ensure that the user doesn't accidentally close the modal and miss out on the opportunity.
Complex Onboarding or Tutorials: For websites with complex onboarding processes or in-depth tutorials, the "keep modal open" feature can be particularly useful. This ensures that users remain focused on the task at hand and don't get distracted or accidentally close the modal.
Multimedia Content Previews: If your website features multimedia content, such as videos or interactive experiences, the "keep modal open" feature can be used to preview this content without the user accidentally closing the modal.
Confirmation or Authorization Modals: In situations where the user needs to confirm an action or provide authorization, keeping the modal open can help prevent accidental dismissal and ensure that the user completes the necessary steps.
By leveraging the "keep modal open" feature of the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin, you can create a more engaging and effective user experience for your website visitors, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and better overall results.
Conclusion
In this article, we've explored the issue of keeping WordPress modals and popups open, even when users click outside of them. We've introduced the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin as a powerful solution that provides this functionality, and we've dived into the technical implementation behind the scenes.
By enabling the "keep modal open" feature in the plugin's settings, you can ensure that your visitors remain focused on the modal's content, leading to improved conversion rates and a better overall user experience. We've also discussed several real-world examples and use cases where this feature can be particularly beneficial, such as lead capture forms, time-sensitive offers, and complex onboarding processes.
If you're struggling to keep your WordPress modals and popups open, even when users click outside of them, I highly recommend trying the WordPress Ultimate Popup Plugin. Its robust set of features and the ability to customize the modal behavior make it a powerful tool for any WordPress website owner.
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