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Re: Reason For Links Opening In New Window

for

From: Gareth Dart
Date: Jan 5, 2007 5:30AM

Hi Kallie,

Best practice for this area may not agree with me, but I make it a rule of thumb to never spawn a new window via a link unless there is a very - and I mean VERY - compelling reason to do so. It's obviously a temptation to have any external links open in a new window/tab so one's own website remains visible, but try to resist this - especially as most modern browsers allow users to choose whether they want a link to open in a new tab anyway.

The reason is very simple - the user's BACK button will not behave as expected from the new window. They will click the link, the new window will open, they'll read for a bit, then click BACK to get back to your site, and nothing will happen. As well as being an accessibility issue, this is just plain annoying.

There are very few valid reasons for using new windows in this way. If you absolutely cannot get out of it, advise the user, preferably via a textual explanation of what the link will do.

Cheers,

G

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]On Behalf Of Kallie
Swanepoel
Sent: Friday 5 January 2007 12:04
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: [WebAIM] Reason For Links Opening In New Window


Hi All

Are there any special reason why one should want to have a link opening
in a new window, using the

Target="blank"

attribute?

That is:

Opening the new page, and minimizing the previous one.

Regards

Kallie Swanepoel
Piano Tuner/Klavierstemmer
Skype Name: KallieSwanepoel
Phone: +27 (0) 12 379 3762
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 261 6942
Voice Link: +27 (0) 88 129 8775
Fax: +27 (0) 86 633 2999
http://www.kallieswanepoel.co.za


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Alastair
Campbell
Sent: 04 January 2007 18:24
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] screen resolutions, was Serif vs sans-serif


Austin, Darrel wrote:
> it's about a 100% increase in PPI. Which
> seems like a lot, but not compared to the pace that nearly every other

> portion of computing has increased.

True, but the interface hasn't really changed resolution, so if there
were a 400 DPI screen, it would be unusable!

> There's been talk of this for years. Hopefully it will happen soon.

It's going to have to if they produce better screens, it's a minor
chicken & egg situation...

Kind regards,

-Alastair

--
Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience

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