[thelist] Look ma, no tables. Check please?

Jackson Yee jyee at vt.edu
Sun Jul 14 15:59:01 CDT 2002


----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Medley" <dm at lgcy.com>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 23:27
Subject: Re: [thelist] Look ma, no tables. Check please?

[much snipping]

> As far as the java scripting goes I have the links coded as such:
> <a class="nav"
> href="whatever.html" target="_blank"
> onclick="javascript:openWindow('whatever.html');return false;">whatever.</a>
> I think what this does is, in case the scripting is disabled, it will open
> up a new browser window wich all the bells and whistles. This is how it
> works in Mozilla and IE. Am I missing something and it does not work as
> intended sometimes?

It works exactly as you intended it to. 8-)

It's a good piece of code, I just don't happen to agree with the design choice
from a general usability standpoint.  Use the following links for details:

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/07/01.html
http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam77-0.htm
http://www.jessett.com/web_sites/usability/other_issues.shtml

For small items such as the comments link or a particular news article, where
you know that the user will return to your site, it's a great design decision.
 For large, off-site links such as Evolt or the W3C, I prefer to leave the
choice of using a new window or not up to the user, as I commonly browse
straight through sites from one link to another, and not being able to use the
forward or back buttons on my mouse would severely detract from my experience.


You know your audience better than I do though, so it's your call.  I'd just
put a "will open in new window" message up for the rest of us who might happen
to stumble onto your site one day to warn us of what you're doing.

Regards,
Jackson Yee
jyee at vt.edu
http://www.jacksonyee.com/




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