Don't override the default - even if it seems broken it may be required for compatibility. To paraphrase Tim Berners-Lee, fix your client, not the web.
Ask YC: How do you deal with external urls?
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: Ask YC: How do you deal with external urls?
#12A meta-suggestion: avoid lengthy discussions about such issues. Pick one option quickly, then run experiments to test whether the alternative improves your relevant metrics. Some issues are too small to invest time in trying to find 'consensus' without hard data. On the issue directly: the web default is to open links in the same window. Opening new windows is in Jakob Nielsen's list of the top ten very worst web des…
Exactly. Spending more than five seconds on this (before you have data), and even worse, involving more than one person, is a recipe for fail.
People just love to argue about silly shit like this.
Homework assignment for everyone who felt compelled to chime in with their well-reasoned opinions:
Re: Ask YC: How do you deal with external urls?
#13You should open the urls in the same window. Because thats what most of your users will be expecting, considering most other sites do that. So by habit, they'll either use the middle click button or some other way to open it a new tab or window.
Re: Ask YC: How do you deal with external urls?
#14Never open a new window automatically - let the user middle-click.
I don't know about "never." I spend a lot of money getting users to my site (I'm not web 2.0, but rather a downloadable software product). I'm not eager to send them elsewhere. That's one of my gripes about xhtml 1.0 strict: target="_blank" doesn't validate. So, my site is all strict except the links page, which has to be transitional to validate.
Re: Ask YC: How do you deal with external urls?
#15Never open a new window automatically - let the user middle-click.
I don't know about "never." I spend a lot of money getting users to my site (I'm not web 2.0, but rather a downloadable software product). I'm not eager to send them elsewhere. That's one of my gripes about xhtml 1.0 strict: target="_blank" doesn't validate. So, my site is all strict except the links page, which has to be transitional to validate.
It doesn't validate because breaking my preferences and opening a new window which I didn't ask for is (apart from being an obnoxious thing to do) a 'behaviour'.
The "Strict" standard, rightly, enforces a division between content (XHTML), design (CSS) and behaviour ({Java|ECMA}script).
If you want links to open in external windows, attach a behaviour to the link class with JS. Just make sure that behaviour is off by default, though, because otherwise people like me who know what we're doing won't use your site.
Re: Ask YC: How do you deal with external urls?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know about "never." I spend a lot of money getting users to my site (I'm not web 2.0, but rather a downloadable software product). I'm not eager to send them elsewhere. That's one of my gripes about xhtml 1.0 strict: target="_blank" doesn't validate. So, my site is all strict except the links page, which has to be transitional to validate.
It doesn't validate because breaking my preferences and opening a new window which I didn't ask for is (apart from being an obnoxious thing to do) a 'behaviour'. The "Strict" standard, rightly, enforces a division between content (XHTML), design (CSS) and behaviour ({Java|ECMA}script). If you want links to open in external windows, attach a behaviour to the link class with JS. Just make sure that behaviour is off by…
I don't use JS on my site, because others won't use the site with JS. The link page is the only page on the site that does this, so I'm going to go with it.
It's not obnoxious if you consider that some people really don't understand how the web works or what the difference is between sites. In that case it's a convenience.
This is an idea which should be left as a "best practice," but allow for reasonable differences.