Question

How do I get this script to only run if the person is a new visitor to the site? It runs every time the page is requested which becomes very annoying.

//0 means disabled; 1 means enabled;
var popupStatus = 0;

function loadPopup(){
    //loads popup only if it is disabled
    if(popupStatus==0){
        $("#backgroundPopup").css({
            "opacity": "0.7"
        });
        $("#backgroundPopup").fadeIn("slow");
        $("#popupContact").fadeIn("slow");
        popupStatus = 1;
    }
}

//disabling popup with jQuery magic!
function disablePopup(){
    //disables popup only if it is enabled
    if(popupStatus==1){
        $("#backgroundPopup").fadeOut("slow");
        $("#popupContact").fadeOut("slow");
        popupStatus = 0;
    }
}

//centering popup
function centerPopup(){
    //request data for centering
    var windowWidth = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
    var windowHeight = document.documentElement.clientHeight;
    var popupHeight = $("#popupContact").height();
    var popupWidth = $("#popupContact").width();
    //centering
    $("#popupContact").css({
        "position": "absolute",
        "top": windowHeight/2-popupHeight/2,
        "left": windowWidth/2-popupWidth/2
    });
    //only need force for IE6

    $("#backgroundPopup").css({
        "height": windowHeight
    });

}


$(document).ready(function(){

    //LOADING POPUP
    //Click the button event!
        //centering with css
        centerPopup();
        //load popup
        loadPopup();

    //CLOSING POPUP
    //Click the x event!
    $("#popupContactClose").click(function(){
        disablePopup();
    });
    //Click out event!
    $("#backgroundPopup").click(function(){
        disablePopup();
    });
    //Press Escape event!
    $(document).keypress(function(e){
        if(e.keyCode==27 && popupStatus==1){
            disablePopup();
        }
    });

});

Answer 1

set a cookie set to expire at end of session with a value of 1 or true or whatever. Then look for cookie. If it exists, don’t show it.