Is it wise to open Links to new window?
Dave
As an owner of a typical personal home page, is it wise to open Links in a
new window?
Would I be better off a) opening my Links to a new window, to keep my site
"on the forefront" for that time being, or b) opening Links in the same
window to keep their desktop clean and prevent the viewer from getting
annoyed?
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
--
============================
- David Grund Jr.
http://members.cox.net/grundage/
Brian
> is it wise to open Links in a new window?
I'd say no. Leave it to the user to decide. I won't bother writing at
length about it here since you can use Google to read the numerous
threads that have talked about this very topic in ciwa*.
--
Brian (remove "invalid" from my address to email me)
http://www.tsmchughs.com/
Daniel R. Tobias
> I know it's a stupid question, but it's an "off the record" sort of thing.
> As an owner of a typical personal home page, is it wise to open Links in a
> new window?
No... it very rarely is.
Some more discussion:
http://webtips.dan.info/new-window.html
--
== Dan ==
Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/
Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/
Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/
Karl Groves
"Dave" <da...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4wChc.38331$bl.34044@okepread03...
> I know it's a stupid question, but it's an "off the record" sort of thing.
It is VERY bad to open new windows.
I work for a company that does usability testing. Let me give an example of
what a terrible idea new windows are:
Last week, we had a test with 10 participants (more than enough for a
qualitative analysis).
These 10 participants ranged in age from 25-70 and beginner to intermediate
level experience with the web. (one person was "advanced", only because he
had a hobby site)
ALL 10 participants exhibited confusion or frustration when they experienced
a new window opening - especially when they tried navigating back to where
they came from. None of them realized that a new window was even opened.
Typically, we leave it up to the user to solve their own problems. Afterall,
thats how it would be in real life. But on more than one occasion, we had to
interrupt the session to close the window for them.
The whole argument people have about using the "target=_blank" is because "I
don't want them losing my site". Well, here's a clue for people who believe
that: They get lost anyway. If you really care about them not being lost,
then don't break the back button. By opening links in the same window, at
least they can find their way back using the back button. With a new window,
you're ENSURING that they can't figure out how to get back to you.
-Karl
Barry Pearson
> I know it's a stupid question, but it's an "off the record" sort of
> thing. As an owner of a typical personal home page, is it wise to
> open Links in a new window?
>
> Would I be better off a) opening my Links to a new window, to keep my
> site "on the forefront" for that time being, or b) opening Links in
> the same window to keep their desktop clean and prevent the viewer
> from getting annoyed?
You appear to have got some good answers. I'll add one more. When I tried
using a speaking browser to experience the problems that blind people face,
one of the trickiest problems was handling new windows. Experienced users can
probably sort it out, but I got lost.
--
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/
http://www.ChildSupportAnalysis.co.uk/
Shawn K. Quinn
> I know it's a stupid question, but it's an "off the record" sort of thing.
> As an owner of a typical personal home page, is it wise to open Links in a
> new window?
>
> Would I be better off a) opening my Links to a new window, to keep my site
> "on the forefront" for that time being, or b) opening Links in the same
> window to keep their desktop clean and prevent the viewer from getting
> annoyed?
Definitely, I would avoid annoying the user.
If I want it in the same window, I'll open it in the same window anyway,
whether you want it in a new window or not. It takes a lot more effort to
defeat the "open in new window" functionality, but it can be done and I
will do it to keep extra windows off my desktop.
--
Shawn K. Quinn
Andy Dingley
>As an owner of a typical personal home page, is it wise to open Links in a
>new window?
Well this is always a good topic to start the flames
IMHO, it's reasonable to do this, with some conditions:
- It's not the normal means of navigation. Opening new windows shoud
be the exception rather than the rule, and very much so,
- You only do it when there's a good reason to. Think !
- If you do it, do it reliably. Use Javascript by all means, but do
it from an onclick event handler on an <a> element and return false.
Use the href atribute too, so that if there's no JavaScript,
available, it becomes a plain HTML window opener.
- Open the right window. If you have a pop-up image viewer in a
gallery, then re-cycle that window when users zoom another image.
Don't just sprinkle "target=_blank" everywhere.
- Use the window focus. If you re-cycle already-open windows, bring
them back to the front.
<a href="photos/cruckbarn.jpg" target="_imagegallery"
onclick="return gallery_onclick('photos/cruckbarn.jpg',
'Short title', ' Long description');" >
<img src="photos/cruckbarn_med.jpg"
alt="Cruck-framed barn in Leigh Woods" />
</a>
jake
<din...@codesmiths.com> writes
>On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 17:24:04 -0500, "Dave" <da...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>As an owner of a typical personal home page, is it wise to open Links in a
>>new window?
>
>Well this is always a good topic to start the flames
>
>IMHO, it's reasonable to do this, with some conditions:
>
> - It's not the normal means of navigation. Opening new windows shoud
>be the exception rather than the rule, and very much so,
>
> - You only do it when there's a good reason to. Think !
>
> - If you do it, do it reliably. Use Javascript by all means, but do
>it from an onclick event handler
also 'onkeypress'
>on an <a> element and return false.
>Use the href atribute too, so that if there's no JavaScript,
>available, it becomes a plain HTML window opener.
>
> - Open the right window. If you have a pop-up image viewer in a
>gallery, then re-cycle that window when users zoom another image.
>Don't just sprinkle "target=_blank" everywhere.
>
> - Use the window focus. If you re-cycle already-open windows, bring
>them back to the front.
>
>
>
><a href="photos/cruckbarn.jpg" target="_imagegallery"
> onclick="return gallery_onclick('photos/cruckbarn.jpg',
> 'Short title', ' Long description');" >
><img src="photos/cruckbarn_med.jpg"
> alt="Cruck-framed barn in Leigh Woods" />
></a>
>
Sensible advice ... not forgetting that the author needs to *announce*
the fact that the link will open a new window. This is for the benefit
of assistive technology users (screen readers, talking browsers, and the
like) who may not have heard an audio queue telling them that a new
window is opening.
If the user did not hear the queue, then they are going to be very, very
confused.
It's also best to make the announcement in the link itself, because one
way of navigating the page is to use a 'link of lists' (which the reader
can provide on request).
<a href="............> Cruck-framed barn in Leigh Woods (opens in a new
window)</a>
regards.
--
Jake