[thelist] Is Target dead

[Joel Konkle-Parker]

Quoting Sarah Sweeney <mr.sanders at designshift.com>:
> I'd like to speak up for those of us who *don't* think that opening
> external links in a new window is a bad thing. If I'm at a website and I
> click on a link that takes me to another website, I either don't bother
> going back to the original, or I go back and ctrl-click the link so I
> can have both sites open. (Well, these days I have Firefox, so links to
> a new domain open in a new tab anyway, but that's another story.)
>
> Can someone send a link to an article or study that says new windows are
> bad, and why? "Panicked users wondering why their back button is greyed
> out" sounds overstated to me.

Well, I don't have a link to a study or anything, but my take on it is that it's
a question of known default behavior. If it is known that every link you click
on will open in the same window (as usually happens), the user can reasonably
assume that this will occur for every link he/she comes across. If the user
wants the link to open in a new window, then he can do whatever it takes in his
browser to make that happen.

If you let the link open in the same window, I have ways of making it open in a
new one (or a new tab). If the link is set to open in a new window, I *must*
open it in a new window or a new tab, I can't open it in the same window.

Known default behavior is good for usability and doesn't annoy people.


--
Joel Konkle-Parker
Webmaster  [Ballsome.com]

E-mail     [jjk3 at msstate.edu]
Phone      [662-518-1636]