Posted by Tim Streater on 09/06/07 10:29

In article <slrnfdvj70.ddg.no.spam@thurston.blinkynet.net>,
Blinky the Shark <no.spam@box.invalid> wrote:

> Tim Streater wrote:
> > In article <slrnfdvh83.ca3.no.spam@thurston.blinkynet.net>,
> > Blinky the Shark <no.spam@box.invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> Tim Streater wrote:
> >>
> >> > I think it depends. If a clicked link or button is a sidetrack, then a
> >> > new window is appropriate. I do that when the user clicks the help
> >> > button, for example.
> >>
> >> What purpose does that serve that it opening in a new tab does not?
> >
> > You can move the help popup to another part of the screen(s) and read it
>
> Wait. Now it's a popup, not a new browser window?

In another ng thread, I used the word "popup" to refer to what you get
with <select><option etc></select> and was told off because folks
thought I meant a separate window. Now you're telling me off again.

I wish people could make their minds up.

> > in conjunction with the page you are looking at. Since some of the
> > screens in question have a fair bit of information crammed in,
> > necessarily abbreviated, a separate help window is more useful than
> > another tab.
>
> Wait. Now it's a new window, again?

No, it was always a separate window.

My site is a private engineering site for our engineers, our NOC, and
selected customer engineers. But I have seen this "help in a separate
window" concept employed by many commercial sites. To me it makes sense,
because it doesn't (by opening a new tab) distract from the original
window, which the user didn't open for fun, but because they want to
refer to the information in question. This information is dense, but as
experts they don't care about that - but they may need a bit of help
from time to time.

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