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Re: Reason For Links Opening In New Window

for

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Jan 8, 2007 9:10AM

> > What are the
> > other reasons why new windows are still "deemed harmful"?

> One area that certainly springs to mind is users with cognitive
disabilities. I would suggest that some users with cognitive/sensory
disabilities may
> experience a disconnect when browsing a site that generates new
browser windows, or certainly a lot of browser windows.

Perhaps. I'd argue that there may be benefit to having multiple
windows. For example, a user interacting with a web-based email
application who wants to save the contact information from an email into
that same application's contact directory can switch back and forth more
easily if they need to with two windows. The user could deliberately
launch the contact "page" in a new window, but then we are likely to run
into cognitive issues also.

What sensory issues are you alluding to?

> when I have seen this technique used and a new browser window appear
for the user to input their data, it had often been implemented very
badly, using a
> very small window size, or not giving the window immediate focus when
the user clicks "Fill out our form" etc, or changing the colours and
graphics so
> the new window is visually inconsistent with the parent site. The use
of these windows is also further complicated if the user has previously
visited a > site(s) which have spawned other browser windows that have
not closed when they have left the last site(s) they visited.

These all seem like legitimate best practice and usability concerns.
The new window should get the focus - not doing that is an accessibility
issue, but this is generally the avoidable exception, isn't it?

> that the user is clearly informed (in advance) of what to expect and
that the number is minimal.

I'm not going to argue that this is a bad idea, but I don't think that
I've seen any research indicating that this is a problem in desktop
applications - anyone else?

Thanks,
AWK