THAT IS THE QUESTION.
I’m in a debate with someone I adore ::cougheventhoughhe’swrongcough:: about whether off-site links on a website should or should not automatically open in a new tab.
One of us argues that people who don’t want to leave the current site can elect to open the link in a new tab/window themselves.
The other of us argues that most people don’t know that they have the ability to do this and that it’s frustrating for those people to click a link and be taken away from what they were reading.
I am genuinely interested in your opinions on this, so please leave a comment telling me your thoughts. Do your best to explain where you’re coming from. I want to hear from YOU, whether you’re a user or someone skilled in usability.
PS. Yes, I do know that the target attribute won’t validate. That’s not what this is about.
» Filed Under cyberculture, internet
18 Responses to “To target=new or Not to target=new”
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My rule (and we know rules are meant to be broken) is target new tab when:
It’s linking to a document such as pdf.
It’s linking to an external portal area. Maybe.
That’s it.
Basically if the user intuitively thinks that when done with reading the document or micro site they should close the browser window, then it should be its own window. This is almost always the case for pdf, doc, excel type of documents.
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Well, as a user, I know that I growl at the computer every time I click a link that opens yet another window or tab. I feel like, if I want something to open in a new window or tab, I know how to do it, and I don’t want anyone forcing anything on me that further clutters my already-cluttered desktop.
But I’m not convinced that I’m right here. I know that No New Tabs is the right decision for me. But maybe it’s not the right decision for my wife or my mom or someone who spends less time in front of a browser than I do (which is just about everyone else I know).
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My opinion? No new windows. You’re effectively taking the choice away from the user at that point, and forcing the new window.
Unfortunately, it’s become somewhat of a convention…so, if you ARE going to do it, at least mark the link somehow.
http://www.welie.com/patterns/showPattern.php?patternID=outgoing-links
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From Twitter:
@Bodhipaksa @leahcreates Before tabbed browsing there was a case for target=new. Now it’s just an annoyance.
@WebcontentNH @leahcreates Personally, I’d rather have a link open a new window, so I don’t lose my place on the current page when I’m done looking…
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Personally, when I’m on a site that has an on-page link to another site, I’d rather it open in another window, so I don’t lose my place on the current page.
When I’m done looking at the other site, I just close the window and I’m right back where I was.
It’s just easier for me. Sometimes I get carried away on other sites, clicking all over the place, and if it was in the same window, I’d have to click “back” a bunch of times to get back where I originally was, I don’t think I’d ever get there again.
From another perspective, I set up external links to open in new windows on my sites just for that same reason. That way, my visitors have less of a chance of going to another site and never getting back to mine again.
It’s in interesting question, though. Definitely worth finding out how other users feel about it.
I could be way off base. It’s happened before. -:)
Just my 2 cents worth…
Merrill Clark
Direct Response & SEO Copywriter
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I always target=new because I don’t think there are enough people out there who know how to do it, and if you link to XYZ as a comparison or cool site, and it loads same window, people are too easily distractable and the may forget they even started at your site and not come back to it!
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*squirrel!*
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Great debate!
We agree with Josh on opening a new tab for lined documents like PDFs.
95% of the time we recommend opening up external links in new tabs for usability, especially for sites with novice users.
While some experienced users bristle at having tabs open for them, we’ve found that many people get frustrated having to hit the ‘back’ button several times to find the original content.
Browsers like Firefox and now IE 8 are also getting people used to tabbed browsing.
That said, many disagree with us. Check out this lively debate over at Smashing Magazine: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/01/should-links-open-in-new-windows/
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When I click on a link, I almost always open it in a new tab… a few months ago I had no idea how to though and it used to really drive me nuts when I’d loose my place. (My computer is really old and slow so it’d sometimes take a while to get back to it)
So my vote is for new tabs! (definitely not new windows though)
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Primal Media,
A few times there you mentioned opening links in a new tab. You’re using the term “tab” interchangeably with “window”, which I think confuses the issue. The only way a link will open in a new tab is if the user has their browser set to use tabs instead of windows. You can not force a link to open in a new “tab.”
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As Jeff has already pointed out, tabs and windows are not the same and you can’t force a link to open in a new tab. Although the new generation of tabbed browsing now has ‘open new windows in a new tab’ defaulted in. Certainly Firefox 3.5 does.
Most web courses will tell you internal links should be in the same window, external and document downloads should be in a new window. From a user point of view that’s my preference too.
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I read probably around a 100 blogs or more, for different food and craft ideas. All of the blogs have links and sometimes that’s what I want to do, is follow them. But I like having the list in front of me too. So new tabs please! I do it myself but it’s always a nice surprise when I accidentally left click and it does it on its own.
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There are few things that annoy me as much as a link not opening in a new tab.
New tab = Absolutely
New window = No
Link taking over tab I’m already viewing = Anger
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When I am reading something, there is nothing that annoys me more than a link opening and overwriting what I’m looking at! Due to this, I now have a habit of always opening links I’m interesting in a new tab.
However, links opening in an entirely new window are extremely annoying, as they are almost like a pop up.
I hope you were right!
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On my blog, I have any external links set up to open in a new one.
I have a problem with looking at too many things at once, so I very often automatically open new tabs when I’m on another site, but there are times I’ll forget to and just click. That’s when I’m thankful the designer/webmaster had the target set already to open a new one.
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From Twitter:
@commonsherrin @leahcreates onsite links in same window – offsite automagically in a new window
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I prefer links to open up a new tab and do that for most of my links. I know I could do it myself, but I like the ease of clicking a link without worrying about losing my place.
I also think many people don’t know how to do this on their own computer, so it’s partly for ease of use.
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I like opening links in new tabs. I always have a bunch of tabs in one window. I seldom/hate opening a new window. But new tabs are alot simpler, and I don’t lose the current site I’m on.
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