4 ms·

Like other's have said, this is not the developer's decision. In fact it was things like this that made me quit my job to go freelance. Me and the other develo

Like other's have said, this is not the developer's decision. In fact it was things like this that made me quit my job to go freelance. Me and the other developers would spend literally hours explaining and re-explaining why links to external sites should not be opened in a new window. But because some marketing douchebag once said it was a good idea, our pleas went un-heard. In short, don't blame the developers, admittedly a small portion of the blame is with them for not fighting hard enough, or being prepared to walk away. But the vast majority of the blame lies higher up the food chain.

HaloZero 15y ago
I'm curious, why is opening external links in a new window a bad idea? Just breaking the flow of navigation?
- Lockyy 15y ago
  As a user, assuming by "new window" he also means "new tab", I would always prefer external links to open in a new tab. I don't want to click a link half way through an article and suddenly have the new page replace my current one. Because hey, I was reading that. If he is specifically talking about arguing against opening in a new window as opposed to a new tab then I'm behind him 100%. Why would you even do that? It makes no sense. I would be interested in clarification however. And if he is arguing against opening new tabs, why? Edit: Unless he is talking about a pre-tab era?
  - icebraining 15y ago
    As a user, I like to remain in control of whether it should open on a new tab or not. I hate sites that decide for me.
    - Lockyy 15y ago
      After both your posts I just realised that yes, it is better to let it overwrite the page, because the option is there for the user to override this with the middle-click. I've middle clicked all links for so long that I didn't even think about the fact I was choosing to open things in a new tab. Thanks for changing my mind.
  - jackalope 15y ago
    As you hint in your own response, it's a personal preference (and some browsers will even let you set it). I think it's a good convention that clicking a link replaces the current page, since it was established in the pre-tab/pre-multiple window era and thus follows the principle of least surprise. Besides, you'd be amazed at the number of users that don't know how to close tabs, so it's a bit more resource-friendly to abandon the last page (especially on tablets). That said, I tend to middle-click links so they open in new tabs if I don't want to lose my place (especially here on HN), and I'm happy to have that option. I have no idea what tablet users can do in that situation. On my Android phone, I make heavier use of the back button, history and bookmarks compared to my desktop surfing.
    - pavedwalden 15y ago
      On at least one Android browser I've used, holding my finger on a link for a second or two pops up an option to open the link in a new window.

HaloZero 15y ago

I'm curious, why is opening external links in a new window a bad idea? Just breaking the flow of navigation?

Lockyy 15y ago
As a user, assuming by "new window" he also means "new tab", I would always prefer external links to open in a new tab. I don't want to click a link half way through an article and suddenly have the new page replace my current one. Because hey, I was reading that. If he is specifically talking about arguing against opening in a new window as opposed to a new tab then I'm behind him 100%. Why would you even do that? It makes no sense. I would be interested in clarification however. And if he is arguing against opening new tabs, why? Edit: Unless he is talking about a pre-tab era?
- icebraining 15y ago
  As a user, I like to remain in control of whether it should open on a new tab or not. I hate sites that decide for me.
  - Lockyy 15y ago
    After both your posts I just realised that yes, it is better to let it overwrite the page, because the option is there for the user to override this with the middle-click. I've middle clicked all links for so long that I didn't even think about the fact I was choosing to open things in a new tab. Thanks for changing my mind.
- jackalope 15y ago
  As you hint in your own response, it's a personal preference (and some browsers will even let you set it). I think it's a good convention that clicking a link replaces the current page, since it was established in the pre-tab/pre-multiple window era and thus follows the principle of least surprise. Besides, you'd be amazed at the number of users that don't know how to close tabs, so it's a bit more resource-friendly to abandon the last page (especially on tablets). That said, I tend to middle-click links so they open in new tabs if I don't want to lose my place (especially here on HN), and I'm happy to have that option. I have no idea what tablet users can do in that situation. On my Android phone, I make heavier use of the back button, history and bookmarks compared to my desktop surfing.
  - pavedwalden 15y ago
    On at least one Android browser I've used, holding my finger on a link for a second or two pops up an option to open the link in a new window.