[thelist] Target=_blank or back button?

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Thu Jun 20 17:06:10 CDT 2002


> From: "Means, Eric D" <eric.d.means at boeing.com>
> >
> > just the opposite for me... i keep my google window open, and
> > always shift-click so i don't lose my search results... after all,
> > if the first site is a JS-laden hack and i wanna back out, how can i
> > if i start getting errors, windows spawning, etc... at least with
> > google in another window, alt-tab and go...
>
> You could choose the search site from the drop-down list of sites in
> your history every modern browser provides by either: 1. Clicking the
> little down-arrow next to the back button 2. Holding down a left-click
> on the back button 3. Right-clicking the back button Any of those
> solve the issue of unpleasant back problems (such as instant
> redirects).

for a little context, let's say i've just searched on "tubulidentata"
over at google.com... here's exactly what happens if you watch
me...

shift-click
alt-tab
shift-click
alt-tab
shift-click
alt-tab
shift-click
alt-tab
shift-click

i've now got five windows open in under 5 seconds, without losing
my google page, or my place on the page, or worrying about an
"expired" page, either...

i quickly check the other pages, see one is 404, another is
completely irrelevant, and one has a skull that i think i'm going to
ask for as a gift
(http://www.evolutionnyc.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product/asp/product-
id/105193.html)...

close all those, and hey, my google page is still there, ready to go
from where i left off...

now, if i take the other approach, i have to click, await a page load,
hit back, click, await a page load, hit back, click... etc... IOW, i
don't surf in series, i surf in parallel, trying to be sure stuff
downloads while i'm off reading something else and not waiting for
it...

of course, as you'll see below, this has very little to do with window
targetting, i just wanted to address that my sufing habits often
negate the need for a back button... cuz i'm weird like that...

> I would say that a web browser should never *force* a user to open a
> new window.  Leave the links without targets (except in the case of
> frames); if the user wants a new window they generally are quite
> capable of choosing to create one.  Contrariwise, if you put
> target=_new or target=_blank and I *don't* want a new window, I have
> to go to quite a bit more effort to keep my current window, esp. in
> the case of form submits and whatnot.
[...]

actually, i don't say that any of those should open in a new
window, just that i surf that way, which is the opposite of how chris
surfs... it was in support of the argument that you can't tell what a
user will do, so don't assume...

of course, on a corporate site, my clients dictate that for me
anyway...


--
Read the evolt.org case study
Usability: The Site Speaks for Itself
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151035/evoltorg
ISBN: 1904151035



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