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Re: Reason For Links Opening In New Window

for

From: Sandra Clark
Date: Jan 5, 2007 7:50AM

Just an FYI, in xHTML 1.x the target attribute in a link is deprecated.
I've had some success with a Javascript solution that I reference
http://www.shayna.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.display_entry&;id=153. It
also degrades gracefully when Javascript is disabled.

I stay away from popups, but I've found that when building applications (not
web sites) that having popups or new windows for items such as pick lists
sometimes is much preferable than opening the links in the same window.


Sandra Clark
=============================http://www.shayna.com
Training in Cascading Style Sheets and Accessibility


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of ben morrison
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 7:12 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Reason For Links Opening In New Window

On 1/5/07, Kallie Swanepoel < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> 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.

Hi Kallie,

Its good practice/polite to start a new conversation/email, anyway in answer
to your question there isn't a special reason to open a new window and in
fact is bad practice.

If a user wants to open the link in a new window they have the choice to do
so. It breaks the back button for users that aren't aware that a new window
has opened.

If you *must* use target="blank" then its best to advise the user.

<a href="newSite.html" target="_blank">go to this site (will open in a new
window)</a>

Generally i would avoid it unless the client specifically requests it, then
use a technique similar to the above.

regards, ben.