---
title: "HootBox | Smart Popup Element & Popup Builder for YOOtheme Pro"
description: "Create smart popups in YOOtheme Pro with any content, flexible triggers, timing, frequency controls and targeting options. Try the live demo first."
url: "https://www.yoozecase.com/?app_id=1&item_id=28"
date: "2026-11-12T13:09:15+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

#  HootBox

Note to self:
ship it!

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

The smart popup element for YOOtheme Pro. Place any content, then decide when it appears, how often, and who sees it.

##  Headline

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

 ![Hootbox](https://www.yoozecase.com/files/hootbox.png)

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---

##  Description

HootBox is the smart popup element for YOOtheme Pro. You build the popup in the builder like any other section, with text, images, video, a form or a module inside it, and then you decide the part that actually matters: when it appears, how often, and who gets to see it.

A popup does not have to be a box in the middle of the screen. Pick a centred dialog when you need an answer, a bar for an announcement, a corner panel for a quiet hint, a side panel for a form, or a full screen welcome mat. Ten placements in total, each one using the card styles of your theme, so it matches the rest of the site without a line of extra CSS.

Timing is where a smart popup earns its keep. Open on page load after a delay, at a scroll depth, when a chosen element comes into view, on exit intent, after a period of inactivity, or on a click on any link or button you point at. Give it a start and an end date, weekdays and a daily time window, and the Christmas banner disappears on the twenty sixth without anyone logging in.

Then decide how often. Every page load, once per session, once per visitor, or again after a number of minutes, hours or days. Cap the number of views, choose whether a view counts on open, on close or only after a button click, and add a do not show again checkbox for the people who mean it. You decide how long that checkbox holds: the browser session, a number of days or a year. All of it is kept in the visitor's browser and nothing is sent to our servers. Once per session uses a small session cookie without personal data, so a second tab does not show the popup again. NOTICE.txt in the download describes it, ready to copy into your privacy statement. If your site runs Google Tag Manager, HootBox passes open, close and button clicks to it, so you can count them there.

A closed popup does not have to be gone. Switch on the teaser and a small tab stays in a corner of the screen, so a visitor who closed the offer too fast can open it again on any later page. A button in the popup can also open a second HootBox: ask a short question first and show the form only to the people who say yes.

Show it to guests only or to logged in users only, limit it to phones or desktops, give phones a bottom bar instead of a blocking modal, and match the language of the page, a campaign parameter in the address or the site the visitor came from.

HootBox also knows when to wait. While a cookie banner is on screen, the automatic triggers hold back until the visitor has made a choice, it recognises the consent manager of YOOtheme Pro and the banners of Cookiebot, CookieYes, Complianz, OneTrust and Cookie Consent. With several popups on a page, one waits for the other instead of stacking on top of it, and the priority decides which goes first. A popup placed site-wide in the footer can be limited to /blog or kept away from /checkout with one line per page. A video or map inside the popup loads only when the popup opens and stops when it closes.

Built with Google's guidance on intrusive interstitials in mind. One setting gives phones a bottom bar instead of a blocking popup, and the help text next to each timing field says what is safe. A blocking popup is a real dialog with focus handling and an Escape route, and visitors who ask their system for less motion get no animation at all.

The same element and the same behaviour on Joomla and on WordPress. Each edition has its own licence, so buy the one for the CMS your site runs on. The settings panel in the builder follows the language of your administrator account: English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish or Italian.

##  Feature request

 ### What is the next feature for this plugin?

Submit your idea or vote on existing ones.

  #### Top voted

   Website (leave empty)

'; } html += ''; if (oc.title) { html += '##### ' + escapeHtml(oc.title) + '

'; } if (oc.text) { html += '' + escapeHtml(oc.text).replace(/\\n/g, '
') + '

'; } html += '

'; } // Auto winner(s) - top N from the already vote-sorted features if (mode === 'auto_winner' || mode === 'both') { var n = oc.winnerCount | 0; if (n '; for (var i = 0; i ' + (w.image_url ? '![](https://www.yoozecase.com/'%20+%20escapeHtml(w.image_url)%20+%20')

' : '') + '' + (i + 1) + '' + '' + escapeHtml(w.title) + '' + '' + getIcon(this.cfg.voteIcon) + ' ' + (w.votes | 0) + '' + ''; } html += ''; } } if (html === '') { this.elOutcome.hidden = true; return; } this.elOutcome.innerHTML = html; this.elOutcome.hidden = false; }; /** * Roadmap view (v3.2.0): renders the items as status columns, in the * canonical status order from cfg.statuses. Each column is an 12. inside \* the existing .yc-fb-list , holding its own inner  of items - \* this keeps the delegated click/change handlers on elList working \* unchanged. Unknown statuses fall back into the "open" column so no item \* can silently disappear. Empty columns are skipped when \* cfg.roadmapHideEmpty is set. \*/ Board.prototype.renderRoadmap = function (items) { var stats = (this.cfg.statuses && this.cfg.statuses.length) ? this.cfg.statuses : \['open', 'planned', 'in\_progress', 'shipped', 'declined'\]; var labels = this.cfg.statusLabels || {}; var groups = {}; var i, st; for (i = 0; i ' + '##### ' + '' + escapeHtml(labels\[sv\] || sv) + '' + arr.length + '' + '

    ' + '' + itemsHtml + '
    ' + '
'; } return html; }; Board.prototype.renderItem = function (f, index) { var disabled = this.cfg.isClosed ? 'disabled' : ''; var voted = f.voted ? ' yc-voted' : ''; var descHtml = f.description ? '' + escapeHtml(f.description).replace(/\\n/g, '
') + '

' : ''; var thumbHtml = f.image_url ? '![](https://www.yoozecase.com/'%20+%20escapeHtml(f.image_url)%20+%20')

' : ''; // Status workflow (v3.0.0): badge for any non-default status. The // roadmap view (v3.2.0) skips the badge - the column already // communicates the status, a badge would be redundant noise. var st = (f.status || 'open'); var labels = this.cfg.statusLabels || {}; var statusBadge = (!this.isRoadmap && st && st !== 'open' && labels[st]) ? '' + escapeHtml(labels\[st\]) + '' : ''; // Design themes (v3.1.0): arena / neon / pixel render extra per-item // furniture - rank number, avatar (image or initials), a "leader" pill // on rank 1, and a "votes" label. Classic/colour themes are untouched. var t = this.cfg.theme || 'light'; var themed = (t === 'arena' || t === 'neon' || t === 'pixel'); var rank = (typeof index === 'number') ? (index + 1) : 0; var rankHtml = '', leaderHtml = '', avatarHtml = '', votesLabel = ''; if (themed) { rankHtml = '' + pad2(rank) + ''; if (rank === 1) { leaderHtml = '' + escapeHtml(this.cfg.leaderLabel || 'Leader') + ''; } if (f.image_url) { avatarHtml = '![](https://www.yoozecase.com/'%20+%20escapeHtml(f.image_url)%20+%20')

'; } else { avatarHtml = '' + escapeHtml(initialsOf(f.title)) + '

'; } votesLabel = '' + escapeHtml(this.cfg.votesLabel || 'votes') + ''; } // Moderation overlay: subtle corner buttons, only when canModerate. // Buttons appear on hover/focus (styled in CSS). Even in customizer // preview we render them when canModerate is true so the moderator // can see what visitors with moderation rights will see. var modHtml = ''; if (this.cfg.canModerate) { var parts = []; var hideTitle = escapeHtml(this.t('hideTitle', 'Hide this feature')); var deleteTitle = escapeHtml(this.t('deleteTitle', 'Delete this feature')); if (this.cfg.allowSoftHide) { parts.push( '' ); } if (this.cfg.allowHardDelete) { parts.push( '' ); } if (parts.length || (this.cfg.statuses && this.cfg.statuses.length)) { var sParts = parts.slice(); if (this.cfg.statuses && this.cfg.statuses.length) { var opts = ''; for (var si = 0; si ' + escapeHtml(sl) + ''; } var setStatus = escapeHtml(this.t('setStatus', 'Set status')); sParts.push( '' ); } modHtml = '' + sParts.join('') + '

'; } } var mediaHtml = themed ? avatarHtml : thumbHtml; return ( '32. ' + leaderHtml + rankHtml + '' + mediaHtml + '' + '##### ' + escapeHtml(f.title) + '

    ' + statusBadge + descHtml + '

    ' + modHtml + '
' ); }; /** * Detects whether a JSON response looks like a CSRF/token rejection. * Two cases: * 1. com_ajax-level rejection (Joomla's auto-token-check on POST): top * level message contains the JINVALID_TOKEN_NOTICE text and HTTP * status is typically 403. * 2. Plugin-level rejection from requireToken(): payload.error === "Invalid token". */ Board.prototype.isTokenError = function (status, raw, payload) { if (status === 403) return true; var hay = ''; try { hay = JSON.stringify(raw || {}) + '|' + JSON.stringify(payload || {}); } catch (e) {} return /invalid (security )?token/i.test(hay); }; /** * Fetch a fresh CSRF token from the server. Updates this.cfg.csrfToken so * the next call (and any future calls in this Board's lifetime) use the * correct one. Cache-bust with a timestamp so no upstream CDN caches the * response. */ Board.prototype.fetchFreshToken = function () { var self = this; var url = this.cfg.ajaxUrl + '&task=token&_=' + Date.now(); return fetch(url, { method: 'GET', credentials: 'same-origin', headers: { 'Accept': 'application/json', 'Cache-Control': 'no-cache' } }) .then(function (r) { return r.json(); }) .then(function (data) { var p = self.unwrapAjax(data); if (p && p.ok === true && typeof p.token === 'string' && p.token.length >= 16) { self.cfg.csrfToken = p.token; return p.token; } throw new Error('No fresh token in response'); }); }; /** * Generic POST-with-token helper. Builds FormData from a plain object, * adds the current token, posts. On 403 / token-error response, fetches a * fresh token and retries exactly once. * * @param {string} task The task name (appended to URL and body) * @param {object} fields Key-value form fields (no token) * @return {Promise} Resolves to the unwrapped payload on success. \* Rejects with Error containing .reason on failure. \*/ Board.prototype.postWithToken = function (task, fields) { var self = this; function attempt(token) { var fd = new FormData(); fd.append('task', task); for (var k in fields) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(fields, k)) { fd.append(k, fields\[k\]); } } fd.append(token, '1'); return fetch(self.cfg.ajaxUrl + '&task=' + encodeURIComponent(task), { method: 'POST', credentials: 'same-origin', body: fd, headers: { 'Accept': 'application/json' } }).then(function (r) { return r.json().then(function (data) { return { status: r.status, raw: data, payload: self.unwrapAjax(data) }; }); }); } return attempt(this.cfg.csrfToken).then(function (res) { // Success path if (res.payload && res.payload.ok === true) { return res.payload; } // Token rejection? Fetch fresh and retry once. if (self.isTokenError(res.status, res.raw, res.payload)) { return self.fetchFreshToken().then(function (fresh) { return attempt(fresh).then(function (res2) { if (res2.payload && res2.payload.ok === true) { return res2.payload; } var err = new Error( (res2.payload && res2.payload.error) || (res2.raw && res2.raw.message) || self.t('requestFailed', 'Request failed.') ); err.payload = res2.payload || null; throw err; }); }); } // Some other error - surface it var err = new Error( (res.payload && res.payload.error) || (res.raw && res.raw.message) || self.t('requestFailed', 'Request failed.') ); err.payload = res.payload || null; throw err; }); }; Board.prototype.handleSubmit = function () { var self = this; if (isInBuilder()) { this.showStatus(this.t('previewSubmit', 'Preview mode - submissions are disabled in the YOOtheme builder. Try this on the published page.'), 'info'); return; } if (this.cfg.isClosed) { this.showStatus(this.cfg.closedMessage || this.t('votingClosed', 'Voting is closed.'), 'info'); return; } var title = (this.elTitle && this.elTitle.value || '').trim(); var desc = (this.elDesc && this.elDesc.value || '').trim(); // Client-side validation: minimum title length. Server re-validates. var minLen = (this.cfg.minTitleLength | 0) || 2; if (title.length for hide/delete, remember parent + sibling for rollback. var li = btn.closest('li'); var parentEl = li ? li.parentNode : null; var nextEl = li ? li.nextSibling : null; if (li && (action === 'hide' || action === 'delete')) { li.remove(); } btn.disabled = true; var task = action === 'hide' ? 'moderate\_hide' : action === 'delete' ? 'moderate\_delete' : action === 'restore' ? 'moderate\_restore' : ''; if (!task) { btn.disabled = false; return; } this.postWithToken(task, { feature\_id: featureId }) .then(function (payload) { // Success - keep the UI as-is (already removed) and refresh // so vote counts, top box, and hidden-features panel reflect // the new state. self.refresh(); if (self.hiddenOpen) { self.hiddenLoaded = false; // force a refetch self.fetchHiddenFeatures(); } var msg = action === 'delete' ? self.t('deleted', 'Feature deleted.') : action === 'hide' ? self.t('hidden', 'Feature hidden.') : action === 'restore' ? self.t('restored', 'Feature restored.') : self.t('done', 'Done.'); self.showStatus(msg, 'success'); setTimeout(function () { self.hideStatus(); }, 3000); }) .catch(function (err) { // Rollback: re-insert the row if we removed it. if (li && parentEl) { if (nextEl) { parentEl.insertBefore(li, nextEl); } else { parentEl.appendChild(li); } } btn.disabled = false; self.showStatus(err && err.message ? err.message : self.t('modFailed', 'Moderation action failed.'), 'error'); }); }; Board.prototype.handleStatusChange = function (featureId, status, sel) { var self = this; if (!featureId || !status) return; sel.disabled = true; this.postWithToken('moderate\_status', { feature\_id: featureId, status: status }) .then(function () { self.refresh(); var label = (self.cfg.statusLabels && self.cfg.statusLabels\[status\]) ? self.cfg.statusLabels\[status\] : status; self.showStatus(self.tf('statusSet', 'Status: %s', label), 'success'); setTimeout(function () { self.hideStatus(); }, 3000); }) .catch(function (err) { sel.disabled = false; self.showStatus(err && err.message ? err.message : self.t('statusFailed', 'Could not set status.'), 'error'); }); }; /\*\* \* Toggle the hidden-features panel open/closed. First open triggers \* an AJAX fetch; subsequent toggles just hide/show the cached list. \*/ Board.prototype.toggleHiddenPanel = function () { if (!this.elHiddenList || !this.elHiddenLabel) return; var arrow = this.elHiddenToggle && this.elHiddenToggle.querySelector('.yc-fb-hidden-arrow'); if (this.hiddenOpen) { this.hiddenOpen = false; this.elHiddenList.hidden = true; this.elHiddenLabel.textContent = this.t('showHidden', 'Show hidden features'); if (arrow) arrow.classList.remove('yc-open'); return; } this.hiddenOpen = true; this.elHiddenList.hidden = false; this.elHiddenLabel.textContent = this.t('hideHidden', 'Hide hidden features'); if (arrow) arrow.classList.add('yc-open'); if (!this.hiddenLoaded) { this.fetchHiddenFeatures(); } }; /\*\* \* Fetch the hidden-features list via the moderator-only endpoint. \* Re-callable to refresh the list after a restore. \*/ Board.prototype.fetchHiddenFeatures = function () { var self = this; if (!this.elHiddenList) return; this.elHiddenList.innerHTML = '2. ' + escapeHtml(this.t('loading', 'Loading...')) + '
'; var url = this.cfg.ajaxUrl + '&task=moderate\_list\_hidden&board\_id=' + encodeURIComponent(this.cfg.boardId); fetch(url, { credentials: 'same-origin', headers: { 'Accept': 'application/json' } }) .then(function (r) { return r.json(); }) .then(function (data) { var payload = self.unwrapAjax(data); if (!payload || payload.ok !== true) { self.elHiddenList.innerHTML = '4. ' + escapeHtml((payload && payload.error) ? payload.error : self.t('hiddenLoadFailed', 'Failed to load hidden features.')) + '
'; return; } self.hiddenLoaded = true; var features = payload.features || \[\]; if (features.length === 0) { self.elHiddenList.innerHTML = '6. ' + escapeHtml(self.t('noHidden', 'No hidden features.')) + '
'; return; } var html = ''; for (var i = 0; i ' + escapeHtml(f.description).replace(/\\n/g, '
') + '' : ''; var restoreTitle = escapeHtml(self.t('restoreTitle', 'Restore this feature')); html += '9. ' + '' + '##### ' + escapeHtml(f.title) + '

    ' + descHtml + '' + escapeHtml(self.tf('votesMeta', '%s votes', f.votes | 0)) + '' + '

    ' + '' + '
'; } self.elHiddenList.innerHTML = html; }) .catch(function () { self.elHiddenList.innerHTML = '11. ' + escapeHtml(self.t('hiddenNetwork', 'Network error while loading hidden features.')) + '
'; }); }; function initAll(scope) { var roots = (scope || document).querySelectorAll('.yc-fb-root'); for (var i = 0; i ---

##  Changelog

---

Pick a plugin in the element settings to show its changelog.

## Schema

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
    "itemListElement": [
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 1,
            "name": "Home",
            "item": "https://www.yoozecase.com"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 2,
            "name": "Extensions",
            "item": "https://www.yoozecase.com/extensions"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 3,
            "name": "HootBox",
            "item": "https://www.yoozecase.com/"
        }
    ]
}
```