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Posted by Gιrard Talbot on 01/08/06 21:46
Jake wrote :
> In message <b3Jqf.4211$rq3.2482@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>, Jose
> <teacherjh@aol.nojunk.com> writes
>
>> What do you folks think of the target="_blank" attribute?
>>
> It's fine -- other than the fact that you can't use it and still
> validate your HTML as 'STRICT'.
>
> Still, that may not be an issue for you. If it is, then you'll need to
> use javascript to provide the functionality.
>
>
>
>> On the one hand, people should have the choice as to whether or not to
>> open a new window, and this defeats that choice (usually invisibly). A
>> new window can disorient people, defeat the back button, and use
>> (perhaps scarce) system resources.
>
>
> Sure. It's a major problem for people with less than 15 minutes exposure
> to the Web.
>
> If it really was an issue, then browser manufacturers would provide a
> setting to override the spawning of a new window -- forcing the target
> to be the existing window.
Netscape 7 was the first to introduce a feature which was overriding
target="_blank" and which was forcing the target to be the existing
window. See for yourself:
Open a link in a new window: when and how can that setting affect my
surfing?
http://www.gtalbot.org/Netscape7Section/Popup/PopupAndNetscape7.html#OpenLinkNewWindow
NS 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, Firefox 1.x, K-meleon (and all Gecko-based
browsers; recent versions) have the ability to override target="_blank"
Target semantic in HTML 4.01
"User agents may provide users with a mechanism to override the target
attribute."
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/present/frames.html#h-16.3.2
I have made that same feature request to MSIE 7 dev. team . I also
requested a modification in the way target attribute currently works in
order to compensate some of the actual way it works. See
1-
"Focusing a secondary window and the target attribute"
at
http://channel9.msdn.com/wiki/default.aspx/Channel9.InternetExplorerFeatureRequests
and
2- Last bullet item of section "HTML 4 Support and spec violations"
at
Internet Explorer Standards Support
http://channel9.msdn.com/wiki/default.aspx/Channel9.InternetExplorerStandardsSupport
>
>> OTOH many (probably most) people don't know how to open a link in a
>> new window when they want to, and it's a real pain to have to go "back
>> back back" (waiting for each "back" site to load) in order to get back
>> to where you were.
>>
> Possibly.
>
>> On my site I have used it (I believe) judiciously, mainly opening new
>> windows into "foreign" sites and using the default (use the same
>> window) for most in-site links.
>
>
> Fine. That's what I'd do; seems to be quite a common practice.
>
> (It often annoys me when I take a link to another site only to find that
> the page's author has been too lazy to open a new window for me.)
>
>> On a site I used to work on, I gave a little lesson on "trick
>> clicking" at the top of the page, and left all links as default.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>
>
> Just warn your users that links to eternal sites open in a new browser
> window.
Just like WAI and J. Nielsen and other accessibility/usability groups
have been recommending. It's ok to propose the user to open a link in a
new window and to warn him in advance of that (when clicking a link).
It's not ok to try to force the opening of new window despite and
against the user's will.
> I notice that a number of authors are now starting to append an icon to
> a link that opens in a new window,
Always identify links which will create (or will re-use) a new,
secondary window
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/DOM:window.open#Always_identify_links_which_will_create_.28or_will_re-use.29_a_new.2C_secondary_window
with quotes, references, icons, even cursors for that purpose
with both 'alt' and 'title' text on
> the <img> informing the user of the fact.
I do that on the link. It should not be done on the <img> but rather on
the <a>, actually.
GΓ©rard
--
remove blah to email me
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