Posted by Adrienne Boswell on 12/23/05 05:45

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed Jose <teacherjh@aol.nojunk.com>
writing in news:b3Jqf.4211$rq3.2482@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com:

> What do you folks think of the target="_blank" attribute?
>
> 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. 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.
>
> 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. 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?
>
> Jose

Links opening in new windows, whether they are on the same site, or going
to another can be confusing for the user. Everyone knows how to use the
back button, but knowing which window is what can get hairy, especially for
users with older systems with little memory and no tabbed browsing.

Additionally, if you look at the HTML 4.01 specs, the Strict DTD does not
include the TARGET attribute at all, it is for the Frame DTD.


--
Adrienne Boswell
http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
Please respond to the group so others can share

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