5 ms·

LinksOnHN[n].setAttribute('target',"_blank");

9 points by bosky101 18y ago

As of dec 21 ,2008 - clicking on stories in HN,open them in the same tab. An average visit to HN involves for me, 10 (right clicks + click ) combo's (on my laptop ) would it help to add a target="_blank" attributes for story links, so that they open in new tabs/windows ( edit: and the tab with HN links remains intact ) this also works out well for those who prefer using the keyboard to navigate links in a page. ( yup, vi/emacs does that to ppl ! ) ~B tags: [accessibility]

jgalvez 18y ago
Well, since middle click has the same behavior even with @target="_blank", I couldn't care less if they enabled it or not.
river_styx 18y ago
Please don't make this change. My #1 pet peeve on the web is a page that opens new browser windows.
- daleharvey 18y ago
  just curious, why? I mean this isnt 5 years ago and sites are opening obtrusive windows that fill up the taskbar and ruin your history
  - river_styx 18y ago
    It's just annoying. If I want to open a new window, I'll do that myself by cmd-clicking or some variant of that.
    - clint 18y ago
      Correct. Best practices are that you do not force your users into any particular browsing habit. Keep it consistent and do not open things in _blank that do not absolutely require it. There are a million tools for users to control their browsing experience ... in the browser. Do not force it in your application.
      - cabalamat 18y ago
        > Best practices are that you do not force your users into any particular browsing habit. Agreed. Is there a plugin in Firefox that ignores target directives and does it the way I want?
        Zak 18y ago
        Try Tab Mix Plus https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122 It has a whole bunch of features, one of which is to force all links to open in the current tab.
- diN0bot 18y ago
  maybe it could be a preference. i personally run a greasemonkey script that not only opens links in a new tab, but inserts a topbar so i can vote and get to comments from the article page.
  - jackowayed 18y ago
    First thing I thought was "greasemonkey" when I read this. But the extra features of your script sound pretty sweet. Is it online somewhere?
  - ardell 18y ago
    Try Hacker News OnePage for Greasemonkey. I love it so far. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/30512 http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/30512
- RossM 18y ago
  I agree. I use the scroll button to open links in new tabs, but sometimes I really want to open a page in the same tab. This is only seconded by links that are something like: <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="someStuff();"> I sure do love opening a tab for javascript:void(0).
eelco 18y ago
Now would be a great time to learn the joy of mouse gestures, configure your middle click button or install a greasemonkey/userscript.
schtono 18y ago
Make it optional per user :)
- windsurfer 18y ago
  This is such a niche feature that I think it would bloat the options pane. This is also a perfect job for greasemonkey :)
  - daleharvey 18y ago
    I dont think its niche, it seems like the core use case is opening the site and reading through a pick of the front page articles, in that case opening in a new window saves either half the clicks, or having to press back all the time (as long as the article isnt interesting enough to click through further)
windsurfer 18y ago
You complain about having to perform some arcane action to open a new tab, but in most operating systems, if you press left+right mouse buttons at the same time, it is interpreted as a middle-click. Also, in firefox, ctrl+enter opens a highlighted link in a new tab while keeping the current tab open. ctrl+shift+enter to open and focus the new tab.
- iron_ball 18y ago
  For the other three Opera users on HN, it's the same behavior but reversed: shift-click (or shift-enter if you use shift-arrow navigation) opens in a focused new tab; ctrl-shift-click opens the new tab but sends it to the background for later.
- bosky101 18y ago
  doh! ctr+enter opens a terminal for a lot of developers :) i agree middle button works out best, but that said - a lot of laptop users also dont carry a spare mouse, and "trying to click left and right" on the laptop sort of breaks the flow. other advantages? ... keeps the index of HN links on one tab the whole day,links opens in new tabs. it's also a question of "can i eliminate the need of a mouse"
- daleharvey 18y ago
  15 key presses to open the top story in a new window? ctrl+shift+press link does the same, but is pretty much as inconvenient than right click -> open in new tab
markessien 18y ago
This is a problem YOU have, it's not a problem with the website. So fix it for yourself, there are many ways to do so.
russell 18y ago
No. I can already do it with my mouse. I have no desire for site specific short cuts.
- cabalamat 18y ago
  I agree. Site specific short cuts are worse thasn useless, because you'd have to use different ones for each site.
jey 18y ago
"this also works out well for those who prefer using the keyboard to navigate links in a page. ( yup, vi/emacs does that to ppl ! )" I am a keyboard junkie and I have no problem with Hacker News. I just use the amazing Vimperator extension which adds vim keybindings to Firefox. So to open a link in a new tab I just press "F" to activate quickhints, which displays a number beside each link, then I type the number of the link I want. (Or I can type some text that is contained in the <a> tag). http://vimperator.org http://vimperator.org Ultimately this is a browser UI issue, not a Hacker News issue.
- bosky101 18y ago
  hey, thanks for the tip...
- RossM 18y ago
  While I'm not a Vim user (or even an emacs user) that sounds useful without the knowledge of Vim keyboard shortcuts.
  - jey 18y ago
    Knowledge of vim is not required but helps; the manual is pretty thorough.
albertcardona 18y ago
In firefox, middle-click will open a new tab.
- derefr 18y ago
  As will holding Control while you click.
kirubakaran 18y ago
1. Ctrl-Click or the equivalent for your browser. 2. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36606 http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36606 There are other Greasemonkey scripts like this. 3. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/379 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/379 There are other extensions like this. 4. Write your own ff extension or gm script. 5. Just use backspace or Alt-LeftArrow.
ideamonk 18y ago
I use ctrl+click, works for me and firefox :P
- eisokant 18y ago
  Same here
mihasya 18y ago
Middle click FTW!
- durbin 18y ago
  i'd love it if hn added a simple checkbox like techmeme to open links in a new tab. The middle click is pretty sweet though.
mdasen 18y ago
On Windows you can use control+click and on a Macintosh you can use command+click.
Eliezer 18y ago
All hail the QuickDrag Firefox extension. Just grab the link and throw it; no keyboarding involved, or trying to press down on the scroll wheel.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
andreyf 18y ago
Try clicking both of your mousekeys on your laptop at the same time (put your finger in the middle). With some drivers, this simulates a middle-key-click (opens in a new tab)
bdittmer 18y ago
Why not just write a GreaseMonkey script to do this? Simple enough...
ComputerGuru 18y ago
No.
cabalamat 18y ago
If I want to open a link in a new tab, I click it using the middle mouse button. This works on Firefox on Ubuntu. On your browser/OS combination there is probably something similar; if not, I suggest you upgrade the software you're using.
kwamenum86 18y ago
Implementing this option (as an official HN feature) could be done entirely in Javascript (meaning no need to worry about building more shit into the server) and completed in under an hour. It would be cool if there were an "HN Labs" that suggested feature submissions and allowed users to add them to their accounts as profile extensions. Setting up HN links with _blank is also a trivial solution to implement on your own though.
arjunb 18y ago
Another way you can hack this yourself - get FluidApp, and make HN a site-specific web app. All off-site links will automatically spawn in new browsers.

9 points by bosky101 18y ago

jgalvez 18y ago

Well, since middle click has the same behavior even with @target="_blank", I couldn't care less if they enabled it or not.

river_styx 18y ago

Please don't make this change. My #1 pet peeve on the web is a page that opens new browser windows.

daleharvey 18y ago
just curious, why? I mean this isnt 5 years ago and sites are opening obtrusive windows that fill up the taskbar and ruin your history
- river_styx 18y ago
  It's just annoying. If I want to open a new window, I'll do that myself by cmd-clicking or some variant of that.
  - clint 18y ago
    Correct. Best practices are that you do not force your users into any particular browsing habit. Keep it consistent and do not open things in _blank that do not absolutely require it. There are a million tools for users to control their browsing experience ... in the browser. Do not force it in your application.
    - cabalamat 18y ago
      > Best practices are that you do not force your users into any particular browsing habit. Agreed. Is there a plugin in Firefox that ignores target directives and does it the way I want?
      - Zak 18y ago
        Try Tab Mix Plus https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122 It has a whole bunch of features, one of which is to force all links to open in the current tab.
diN0bot 18y ago
maybe it could be a preference. i personally run a greasemonkey script that not only opens links in a new tab, but inserts a topbar so i can vote and get to comments from the article page.
- jackowayed 18y ago
  First thing I thought was "greasemonkey" when I read this. But the extra features of your script sound pretty sweet. Is it online somewhere?
- ardell 18y ago
  Try Hacker News OnePage for Greasemonkey. I love it so far. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/30512 http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/30512
RossM 18y ago
I agree. I use the scroll button to open links in new tabs, but sometimes I really want to open a page in the same tab. This is only seconded by links that are something like: <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="someStuff();"> I sure do love opening a tab for javascript:void(0).

eelco 18y ago

Now would be a great time to learn the joy of mouse gestures, configure your middle click button or install a greasemonkey/userscript.

schtono 18y ago

Make it optional per user :)

windsurfer 18y ago
This is such a niche feature that I think it would bloat the options pane. This is also a perfect job for greasemonkey :)
- daleharvey 18y ago
  I dont think its niche, it seems like the core use case is opening the site and reading through a pick of the front page articles, in that case opening in a new window saves either half the clicks, or having to press back all the time (as long as the article isnt interesting enough to click through further)

windsurfer 18y ago

You complain about having to perform some arcane action to open a new tab, but in most operating systems, if you press left+right mouse buttons at the same time, it is interpreted as a middle-click. Also, in firefox, ctrl+enter opens a highlighted link in a new tab while keeping the current tab open. ctrl+shift+enter to open and focus the new tab.

iron_ball 18y ago
For the other three Opera users on HN, it's the same behavior but reversed: shift-click (or shift-enter if you use shift-arrow navigation) opens in a focused new tab; ctrl-shift-click opens the new tab but sends it to the background for later.
bosky101 18y ago
doh! ctr+enter opens a terminal for a lot of developers :) i agree middle button works out best, but that said - a lot of laptop users also dont carry a spare mouse, and "trying to click left and right" on the laptop sort of breaks the flow. other advantages? ... keeps the index of HN links on one tab the whole day,links opens in new tabs. it's also a question of "can i eliminate the need of a mouse"
daleharvey 18y ago
15 key presses to open the top story in a new window? ctrl+shift+press link does the same, but is pretty much as inconvenient than right click -> open in new tab

markessien 18y ago

This is a problem YOU have, it's not a problem with the website. So fix it for yourself, there are many ways to do so.

russell 18y ago

No. I can already do it with my mouse. I have no desire for site specific short cuts.

cabalamat 18y ago
I agree. Site specific short cuts are worse thasn useless, because you'd have to use different ones for each site.

jey 18y ago

"this also works out well for those who prefer using the keyboard to navigate links in a page. ( yup, vi/emacs does that to ppl ! )" I am a keyboard junkie and I have no problem with Hacker News. I just use the amazing Vimperator extension which adds vim keybindings to Firefox. So to open a link in a new tab I just press "F" to activate quickhints, which displays a number beside each link, then I type the number of the link I want. (Or I can type some text that is contained in the <a> tag). http://vimperator.org http://vimperator.org Ultimately this is a browser UI issue, not a Hacker News issue.

bosky101 18y ago
hey, thanks for the tip...
RossM 18y ago
While I'm not a Vim user (or even an emacs user) that sounds useful without the knowledge of Vim keyboard shortcuts.
- jey 18y ago
  Knowledge of vim is not required but helps; the manual is pretty thorough.

albertcardona 18y ago

In firefox, middle-click will open a new tab.

derefr 18y ago
As will holding Control while you click.

kirubakaran 18y ago

1. Ctrl-Click or the equivalent for your browser. 2. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36606 http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/36606 There are other Greasemonkey scripts like this. 3. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/379 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/379 There are other extensions like this. 4. Write your own ff extension or gm script. 5. Just use backspace or Alt-LeftArrow.

ideamonk 18y ago

I use ctrl+click, works for me and firefox :P

eisokant 18y ago
Same here

mihasya 18y ago

Middle click FTW!

durbin 18y ago
i'd love it if hn added a simple checkbox like techmeme to open links in a new tab. The middle click is pretty sweet though.

mdasen 18y ago

On Windows you can use control+click and on a Macintosh you can use command+click.

Eliezer 18y ago

All hail the QuickDrag Firefox extension. Just grab the link and throw it; no keyboarding involved, or trying to press down on the scroll wheel.

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

andreyf 18y ago

Try clicking both of your mousekeys on your laptop at the same time (put your finger in the middle). With some drivers, this simulates a middle-key-click (opens in a new tab)

bdittmer 18y ago

Why not just write a GreaseMonkey script to do this? Simple enough...

ComputerGuru 18y ago

No.

cabalamat 18y ago

If I want to open a link in a new tab, I click it using the middle mouse button. This works on Firefox on Ubuntu. On your browser/OS combination there is probably something similar; if not, I suggest you upgrade the software you're using.

kwamenum86 18y ago

Implementing this option (as an official HN feature) could be done entirely in Javascript (meaning no need to worry about building more shit into the server) and completed in under an hour. It would be cool if there were an "HN Labs" that suggested feature submissions and allowed users to add them to their accounts as profile extensions. Setting up HN links with _blank is also a trivial solution to implement on your own though.

arjunb 18y ago

Another way you can hack this yourself - get FluidApp, and make HN a site-specific web app. All off-site links will automatically spawn in new browsers.