Open link in new tab

In general I don’t think webpages should open new tabs/pages without giving some kind of indication that that’s what will happen when you click. I prefer having the option to choose whether I want a new tab or not, but I must admit that for Core77’s forum on the front page the way it is works for me (I would most likely choose to open a new tab anyway).

The user decides if links should open in a new window or tab. A site that forces links to open in such a way is annoying.

Thanks will for backing me up on this.

Think of also this way - if it is a normal link that opens in the same page you have the open to open in tabs using whatever shortcut/mouse click you want. If it is forced to open in tabs by the code there is no way to make it open in the same page. If every link on the internet opened in tabs it would be crazy. How do you define which open in tabs and which don’t.

This is why good UI doesn’t force or create unexpected behavior.

R

Your pop-up blocker might catch some of that behavior, too. That’d be even more annoying.

It’s the same system used in nearly every other forum. You guys don’t leave Core77 much eh :unamused:

Any link that goes to an external site, opens up in a different window/tab, to prevent leaving here. I’m not talking about internal links.

They are doing it wrong. Here we follow better usability standards :wink:

R

I’m on over a dozen other forums and not a single one opens new links in a new tab UNLESS it’s an advertisement. Which is the same behavior that Core does follow (If I click the ad I get a new tab)

The ctrl click and middle click paradigm are fairly well known at this point. Not sure which if any links should be opened in a new tab?

:slight_smile:
The middle button’s good for me

@Cyberdemon: Ok, I just typed in ‘Design Forum’ into Google and these are the 1st sites that I got back:

http://www.designerstalk.com

http://www.productdesignforums.com

All of them open external links externally. What I mean by external links are shown throughout the posts (websites, external sites etc): http://www.designerstalk.com/forums/web-design/60563-bloody-useful.html

It’s not a big deal, but it is a nicer way to do it, purely because after you view a link, you want to easily go back to the original discussion.

Just because others are doing it wrong doesn’t mean we should too.

R

"It is appropriate to enforce opening links in a new window in case:

  • the link may interrupt an ongoing process"

Source: Richard’s.

That case scenario is for things like a popup during a checkout process to verify your visa. Browsing a forum
Is not an ongoing process by that logic every link online would be a new window since you are in an ongoing browsing process

Did you the the whole thing? It’s pretty clear cut. Sorry, you are wrong.

R

But browsing a thread is an ongoing process. Someone links to something, you check it out, then want to return to the thread.

This method may be wrong in your eyes, but not in the large majority of forums, and for good reasons. Yes, I read the article. But it was obviously just one side of the arguement, and it was contradictory as I pointed out.

conversation is over. The article was clear. Browsing a thread is no more an ongoing process than browsing the entire web.

Usability people agree. You don’t.

R

If that’s your etiquette, then yes, my conversation with you is happily over.

Method 1: Reading a thread - Click on a link someone posted - The page redirects to that site - Browse numerous pages of the new site - Want to return to the original thread - Repeatedly click back button until reached.

Method 2: Reading a thread - Click on a link someone posted - The site opens up in a new tab - Browse numerous pages of new site - Want to return to original thread - Select the previous tab.

In addition to the benefit of simplicity and speed (especially with a slow internet connection), you are also able to switch between source and thread for reference.

I’ve used both methods, and the second is without a doubt the most useful in a forum situation. Which would also explain why it is the most commonly used (yes, even if some UI designer argues against it under non-specific circumstances).

I don’t expect it to be changed, and I don’t mind as it’s easy enough to open a link in a new tab anyway. I’m just surprised, from a designer’s point of view, with some of the opposition here. It seems to me that some of you are inexperienced or just stuck in your ways, because method 1 is not as practical; it’s poorly designed for its purpose.

For interest’s sake, a poll would be good. Can one be put on the thread?

Dead horse, consider yourself beaten.

R

You and me both.



When Jakob Nielsen wrote these commandments, tabs did not exist.

Method 3: command-click the link when you want to open the link in another tab.

Even though I have sort of learned to live with the way Core77’s front page works, I consider it to break what I would call a convention for good web design and I still cmd-click the links every now and then, forgetting that the links are ‘faulty’, resulting in an extra tab opened with an error message as the browser tries to open the javascript too (btw. it could have been implemented using plain html instead of a javascript, then this wouldn’t happen. I suspect the javascript is used to disable the option “open in new tab” if you right-click the link, bad practice in my book as it causes unexpected browser behaviour for the user).

There should at least be some kind of indications that lets the user know the link has unexpected behaviour.