Smart Popup

4 steps 3 min Updated 24 September 2026

Overview

Smart Popup shows a modal window over your school website with a title, a message, and an optional button linking to more information. It is a good fit for a one-off announcement that needs more space, or more attention, than a Smart Alert bar — an open evening invitation, a welcome message for new parents, or a reminder about a deadline.

A visitor who closes the popup is not shown it again for a day, unless you choose to always show it.

Getting set up

Step 1: Open Smart Popup

Go to Smart Plugins → Smart Popup. Smart Popup is always available — there is no switch for it on the Smart Plugins page, and nothing shows on your website until you tick Enabled.

Smart Popup page under Smart Plugins, headed Popup: Enabled ("Enable popup"), Always show ("Ignore cookies and always show the user the popup") and Homepage only ("Show popup only on the homepage") all unticked; Background color #ffffff, Title color #000000, Button text color #ffffff and Button color #000000; empty Title, Content, Button link and Button text fields; and a Save Changes button

Step 2: Write the popup

Fill in Title and Content. Add a Button link and Button text if you want a call-to-action button — for example, a link through to a booking page.

Step 3: Style it and choose where it appears

Set Background color, Title color, Button color and Button text color to match your school's branding. Turn on Homepage only if the message only makes sense on the front page.

Step 4: Turn it on

Tick Enabled and select Save Changes. Visit your website to see it — the popup appears a moment after the page loads.

Popup window with the heading "Open Evening - Thursday 9 October", body text inviting visitors to a tour starting at 5:30pm, a "Find out more" button, and a close icon in the top-right corner

Settings

Where to find it: Smart Plugins → Smart Popup

Setting	What it does	Default
Enabled	Turns the popup on or off	Off
Always show	Shows the popup on every page, even to visitors who have just closed it	Off
Homepage only	Only shows the popup on the homepage	Off
Background color	Popup background colour	#ffffff (white)
Title color	Title text colour	#000000 (black)
Button text color	Button label colour	#ffffff (white)
Button color	Button background colour	#000000 (black)
Title	Popup heading	Empty
Content	Main popup message	Empty
Button link	URL for the action button	Empty
Button text	Label on the button	Empty

When a visitor closes the popup, their browser remembers it for one day, so they are not shown it again until the next day. Changing any setting on this page — the text, a colour, the button — counts as a new popup, so it appears again for everyone who had closed it. Always show turns this off, and the popup is shown on every page.

Troubleshooting

Confirm Enabled is ticked on the Smart Popup page, and Save Changes was selected.
If Homepage only is ticked, the popup only shows on the front page — check you are testing there.
If you cannot see it and have visited before, you may already have closed it. Turn on Always show temporarily to confirm, or test in a private/incognito browser window.
The popup needs JavaScript to work out whether to hide itself for a returning visitor. With JavaScript switched off in the browser, it is shown on every page instead of being remembered — a safe fallback, but worth ruling out if a visitor reports it behaving oddly.

If it reappears on every page straight after being closed, Always show is on. Turn it off and select Save Changes.
If it reappears the next day, that is expected: closing the popup is only remembered for one day.
If it reappears for everyone at once, a setting on the Smart Popup page was changed and saved, which counts as a new popup.

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