5 ms·

"Sites which allow you to use the back button are disappearing from the world"

blfr 4y ago
I got so used to opening in the new tab that I don't even notice this anymore. Infuriatingly, some sites disregard ctrl+click and either still open links in the same tab or both in the same and in the new tab!
- thinkling 4y ago
  If there's a Firefox plugin to fix that behavior, I'd love to know!
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  It doesn’t help that some web frameworks make it difficult to preserve the open in new tab behaviour
  - madeofpalk 4y ago
    What modern (last 10 years) web framework makes it difficult to have links be links?
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      NextJS complains if you don’t use their Link component, which in turn doesn’t allow open in new tab unless you nest a dummy <a> inside it. Because I think the Link uses onclick then if there is an immediate <a> child will set it up.
      - leerob 4y ago
        The <Link/> component is used for client-side page navigations in the same application. If you need to open links in a new tab with `target=“_blank”`, you should use the normal <a/> tag.
        pier25 4y ago
        That's not what the parents are complaining about. It's when the user wants to open a regular link in a new tab using a key modifier.
        leerob 4y ago
        This is working for me (just tested). Can you share one that isn’t please? I can investigate.
        pier25 4y ago
        Hey Lee. I'm not saying it doesn't work :) I'm just saying they are talking about something else.
        quickthrower2 4y ago
        I just realized you work for Vercel, so how about I try to minimum reproduce then I can raise an Github issue?
        leerob 4y ago
        That would be very helpful, thank you!
        quickthrower2 4y ago
        I have put a link to the issue in my HN profile. I think me providing the code will clear up the confusion as to what I think is a problem as we might all be talking about something different.
        quickthrower2 4y ago
        It has been fixed in the canary version already. Nice. https://github.com/vercel/next.js/pull/36436 https://github.com/vercel/next.js/pull/36436
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- Timpy 4y ago
  I got into this habit long before I got into tech, I wasn't even conscious of the reason why. You're right, it's extremely frustrating when a website breaks middle-click to open in new tab behavior.
- silon42 4y ago
  that's why I have thousands of tabs open
quickthrower2 4y ago
Double click or double tap!
cpach 4y ago
Friendly reminder: “Please don’t complain about tangential annoyances—things like article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting.” https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- tambourine_man 4y ago
  Being too common now is interesting when it didn't used to be.
  - cpach 4y ago
    The example was included in the guidelines for a reason. And in any case it’s not at all relevant to an article about color scales.
- Tao3300 4y ago
  That's a bullshit guideline. Back button breakage is a crime against usability and we should be as vocal and irritating as possible about it -- especially in a forum that regularly results in changes along the "Why did (insert FAANG) lock my account with no explanation?" front. Again, this guideline is garbage. Rage against it. Rage against back button breakage. There should be a guideline against citing the guidelines. I'm guilty of it too, but it's a boring and shitty (and off-topic! it's metadiscussion!) thing to do.
  - OrderlyTiamat 4y ago
    I think this is a worthy cause and something that interests me. But it should have its own place, and not be brought up randomly on some other topic. Perhaps you or someone else could write a post on it and submit it! That would lead to better engagement and a more focused discussion. It would also be in tune with the guidelines- come to think of it, that's probably why the guidelines are as they are.
  - dang 4y ago
    I appreciate the juicy center of good humor in your comment of rage. Maybe the following will help. You're right, of course. It's just that there are competing values, so we have to make a tradeoff. One value is usability and having web content be less annoying, intrusive, abusive, and so on. No disagreement there. I think most HN readers share similar feelings about these things; certainly I do. The other value is curiosity. Curiosity likes new things, different things [0], unexpected things—things it can learn from. It doesn't do so well with repetition [1], indignation, or genericness [2]. These two values conflict because complaints about the former tend to be repetitive, indignant, and generic. How to decide the conflict? That question actually has a clear answer, because we're trying to optimize for just one thing here, namely intellectual curiosity [3]. So that value has to win. This is one of those cases where it's super helpful to have just one thing you're optimizing for and to know exactly what it is. It's not that this is the 'right' decision, the 'correct' guideline, or anything like that—it's just correct relative to what we're trying to optimize for. [0] Diffs are what's interesting https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=diffs%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20repetition%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=generic%20discussion%20by%3Adang%20-flamewars%20-flamewar&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20optimiz%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

blfr 4y ago

I got so used to opening in the new tab that I don't even notice this anymore. Infuriatingly, some sites disregard ctrl+click and either still open links in the same tab or both in the same and in the new tab!

thinkling 4y ago
If there's a Firefox plugin to fix that behavior, I'd love to know!
quickthrower2 4y ago
It doesn’t help that some web frameworks make it difficult to preserve the open in new tab behaviour
- madeofpalk 4y ago
  What modern (last 10 years) web framework makes it difficult to have links be links?
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    NextJS complains if you don’t use their Link component, which in turn doesn’t allow open in new tab unless you nest a dummy <a> inside it. Because I think the Link uses onclick then if there is an immediate <a> child will set it up.
    - leerob 4y ago
      The <Link/> component is used for client-side page navigations in the same application. If you need to open links in a new tab with `target=“_blank”`, you should use the normal <a/> tag.
      - pier25 4y ago
        That's not what the parents are complaining about. It's when the user wants to open a regular link in a new tab using a key modifier.
        leerob 4y ago
        This is working for me (just tested). Can you share one that isn’t please? I can investigate.
        pier25 4y ago
        Hey Lee. I'm not saying it doesn't work :) I'm just saying they are talking about something else.
        quickthrower2 4y ago
        I just realized you work for Vercel, so how about I try to minimum reproduce then I can raise an Github issue?
        leerob 4y ago
        That would be very helpful, thank you!
        quickthrower2 4y ago
        I have put a link to the issue in my HN profile. I think me providing the code will clear up the confusion as to what I think is a problem as we might all be talking about something different.
        quickthrower2 4y ago
        It has been fixed in the canary version already. Nice. https://github.com/vercel/next.js/pull/36436 https://github.com/vercel/next.js/pull/36436
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
Timpy 4y ago
I got into this habit long before I got into tech, I wasn't even conscious of the reason why. You're right, it's extremely frustrating when a website breaks middle-click to open in new tab behavior.
silon42 4y ago
that's why I have thousands of tabs open

quickthrower2 4y ago

Double click or double tap!

cpach 4y ago

Friendly reminder: “Please don’t complain about tangential annoyances—things like article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting.” https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tambourine_man 4y ago
Being too common now is interesting when it didn't used to be.
- cpach 4y ago
  The example was included in the guidelines for a reason. And in any case it’s not at all relevant to an article about color scales.
Tao3300 4y ago
That's a bullshit guideline. Back button breakage is a crime against usability and we should be as vocal and irritating as possible about it -- especially in a forum that regularly results in changes along the "Why did (insert FAANG) lock my account with no explanation?" front. Again, this guideline is garbage. Rage against it. Rage against back button breakage. There should be a guideline against citing the guidelines. I'm guilty of it too, but it's a boring and shitty (and off-topic! it's metadiscussion!) thing to do.
- OrderlyTiamat 4y ago
  I think this is a worthy cause and something that interests me. But it should have its own place, and not be brought up randomly on some other topic. Perhaps you or someone else could write a post on it and submit it! That would lead to better engagement and a more focused discussion. It would also be in tune with the guidelines- come to think of it, that's probably why the guidelines are as they are.
- dang 4y ago
  I appreciate the juicy center of good humor in your comment of rage. Maybe the following will help. You're right, of course. It's just that there are competing values, so we have to make a tradeoff. One value is usability and having web content be less annoying, intrusive, abusive, and so on. No disagreement there. I think most HN readers share similar feelings about these things; certainly I do. The other value is curiosity. Curiosity likes new things, different things [0], unexpected things—things it can learn from. It doesn't do so well with repetition [1], indignation, or genericness [2]. These two values conflict because complaints about the former tend to be repetitive, indignant, and generic. How to decide the conflict? That question actually has a clear answer, because we're trying to optimize for just one thing here, namely intellectual curiosity [3]. So that value has to win. This is one of those cases where it's super helpful to have just one thing you're optimizing for and to know exactly what it is. It's not that this is the 'right' decision, the 'correct' guideline, or anything like that—it's just correct relative to what we're trying to optimize for. [0] Diffs are what's interesting https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=diffs%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20repetition%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=generic%20discussion%20by%3Adang%20-flamewars%20-flamewar&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20optimiz%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...