Alerts are small modal windows displayed within a web browser. They grab user attention for important messages, often requiring confirmation (e.g., “Are you sure you want to delete?”).
Popups are separate windows or tabs that open on top of the main browser window. They can be triggered by user actions or scripts and are used for various purposes, including displaying information, advertisements, or login forms.
Alerts/popups typically require user confirmation. While popups offer more flexibility for displaying information or collecting user input, alerts are used for critical messages requiring immediate user attention.
Types of Alerts/Popups
There are several different types of alerts/popups, like simple, confirmation, prompt, and authentication alerts, that one might encounter on a website or web application. These are used for different purposes, and their handling might vary slightly on the implementation basis.
Simple Alerts/Popups
These are used to display simple messages to the user, which can be any information, error, or warning. This type has only the message and a Cancel or an OK button.
Some real-time examples are reminder messages, invalid credentials error messages, device memory/battery low warning notifications, etc.
Confirmation Alerts/Popups
As the name suggests, these are used to take user confirmation on any action. These popups have two buttons, one to accept/provide confirmation and the other to cancel/deny.
Examples of this type include asking for cookie permission on a website, an alert for location/microphone access, a confirmation alert when you try to close it with active audio/video in play, etc.
Prompt Alerts/Popups
These types of alert popups notify users of the input or ask them to enter some data. These tend to have a message, some input fields, and OK/Cancel buttons, depending on the use case.
Some examples include a prompt to enter a password or name, an alert to enter valid/mandatory data, a prompt to enter details of the wireless network, etc.
Authentication Alerts/Popups
This popup asks for user credentials to perform authentication or login to web applications to interact on them.
Some real-world authentication popup examples would be an alert/popup asking for a username and password to access some protected API, to log in to a VPN or your net banking, etc.