Comments on: Open in New Window http://randomfrequency.net/blog/2004/12/20/open-in-new-window/ where the signal to noise ratio always varies Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:54:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David http://randomfrequency.net/blog/2004/12/20/open-in-new-window/comment-page-1/#comment-692 David Mon, 04 Apr 2005 18:10:55 +0000 http://randomfrequency.net/archives/2004/12/20/open-in-new-window/#comment-692 People have become very accustomed to using the "back" button on their browser, much more so than I think many people would expect. People will often use the "back" button over a site's built-in navigation, when possible. If someone wants to come back to your site, they will use that back button. That's what a person naturally does when they want to go back to a site anyway. If the user is so lacking in computer skills, having that window open unexpectedly is probably doing more harm than good. (That's assuming they even notice that a new window has opened. If they haven't, they're in for a real treat when they try to use the back button. They're also in for a surprise when they get done browsing and go to close their browser, only to find a bunch of windows still open.) And if a person actually wants to deal with multiple windows, they can easily open the link in new windows. I also think it's absurd to assume that anytime a person clicks on a link, they're going to <em>want</em> to return to the page they clicked from. While this is frequently the case, it is also frequently not the case. Often, when clicking a link, I really do want to leave a site completely. Your note about Firefox is nice, but isn't helpful when I'm using a public terminal. I really wish they'd all have Firefox, but far too often they're limited to just IE. Either way, I really don't think it's fair to say that, because Firefox can disable it, it's okay to do it. A website shouldn't be making my windowing/tabbing decisions for me to begin with; having Firefox disable that is nice, but it's fixing bad website behavior, not justifying it. (By the way, you can also completely disable the new window behavior instead of making them tabs.) Anyhow, like I've said elsewhere: to each his or her own. The behavior obviously isn't going to stop anytime soon. I just wish it would, because it wouldn't require much for users to adapt to and it would make the web a lot more user-friendly. (And if people really want all their non-local links to spawn new windows, an extension for Firefox could easily be developed to do that, I'm sure. That way only the people who WANT that feature would have to put up with it.) People have become very accustomed to using the “back” button on their browser, much more so than I think many people would expect. People will often use the “back” button over a site’s built-in navigation, when possible. If someone wants to come back to your site, they will use that back button. That’s what a person naturally does when they want to go back to a site anyway. If the user is so lacking in computer skills, having that window open unexpectedly is probably doing more harm than good. (That’s assuming they even notice that a new window has opened. If they haven’t, they’re in for a real treat when they try to use the back button. They’re also in for a surprise when they get done browsing and go to close their browser, only to find a bunch of windows still open.) And if a person actually wants to deal with multiple windows, they can easily open the link in new windows.

I also think it’s absurd to assume that anytime a person clicks on a link, they’re going to want to return to the page they clicked from. While this is frequently the case, it is also frequently not the case. Often, when clicking a link, I really do want to leave a site completely.

Your note about Firefox is nice, but isn’t helpful when I’m using a public terminal. I really wish they’d all have Firefox, but far too often they’re limited to just IE. Either way, I really don’t think it’s fair to say that, because Firefox can disable it, it’s okay to do it. A website shouldn’t be making my windowing/tabbing decisions for me to begin with; having Firefox disable that is nice, but it’s fixing bad website behavior, not justifying it. (By the way, you can also completely disable the new window behavior instead of making them tabs.)

Anyhow, like I’ve said elsewhere: to each his or her own. The behavior obviously isn’t going to stop anytime soon. I just wish it would, because it wouldn’t require much for users to adapt to and it would make the web a lot more user-friendly. (And if people really want all their non-local links to spawn new windows, an extension for Firefox could easily be developed to do that, I’m sure. That way only the people who WANT that feature would have to put up with it.)

]]> By: Darryl http://randomfrequency.net/blog/2004/12/20/open-in-new-window/comment-page-1/#comment-691 Darryl Sun, 03 Apr 2005 22:09:51 +0000 http://randomfrequency.net/archives/2004/12/20/open-in-new-window/#comment-691 I think that having the link open in a new tab is ok. Some people are not computer literate...in fact most aren't, and this makes it easier for them to stay on the site that offers the links. If people would just use a decent browser like Firefox, then there wouldn't be all the griping about this particular issue. I tend to use target="_blank" in almost all links, which opens the link in a new tab in firefox. IE still opens a new window since it's so brain dead. I create sites for the person who knows little to nothing about computers. If you don't like the current open window...there's always the x to close it. I think that having the link open in a new tab is ok. Some people are not computer literate…in fact most aren’t, and this makes it easier for them to stay on the site that offers the links. If people would just use a decent browser like Firefox, then there wouldn’t be all the griping about this particular issue. I tend to use target=”_blank” in almost all links, which opens the link in a new tab in firefox. IE still opens a new window since it’s so brain dead.

I create sites for the person who knows little to nothing about computers. If you don’t like the current open window…there’s always the x to close it.

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