5 ms·

Target="_blank"

9 points by leovander 13y ago

I am new around here and I was wondering if anyone has ever suggested setting the links to target="_blank". I realize it is easy to open links in another tab, I just wanted to know why the news section would want to be navigated away from.

rpicard 13y ago
I actually made a Firefox add-on because I wanted to do that. It also does a few other things, but that was the main thing that I wanted. http://robert.io/alter-hn/ http://robert.io/alter-hn/
unfletch 13y ago
I can't speak for HN's motivations, but my view as a web developer has always been that, in general, target="_blank" is bad. My reasoning is twofold: 1) It's unnecessary. Opening a link in a new tab is easy for the user to do with a keyboard modifier, if that's what they want. 2) Worse, when you use target="_blank" you force that behavior on every user. There's no keyboard modifier to negate that behavior and keep the link in the same window.
- ScottWhigham 13y ago
  Opening a link in a new tab is easy for the user to do with a keyboard modifier Yes, on a desktop or laptop computer. Not so easy on a phone/tablet. I don't think it's bad in the least, not unless it's overused or used improperly. If a "login" link opens a new window, that's obviously poor use. If it's a link along the lines of "view this supporting article that's on another site, then come back here and join the discussion", clearly you want a new window opened - both the author and the reader want that done. Does the target site hijack the "back" button in the browser? Who cares - I've opened a new window/tab and, when I'm done, I'll close it and return to the article I was reading.
  - unfletch 13y ago
    "Yes, on a desktop or laptop computer. Not so easy on a phone/tablet." I've never used Android, but it's dead simple in iOS. Just tap and hold.
    - ScottWhigham 13y ago
      Same in Android.
  - tehwebguy 13y ago
    Sort of the opposite in my opinion - you can tap + hold on iOS but closing a window and going back to the previous one is way more of a pain than cmd + w on my computer.
- wikwocket 13y ago
  Also, it breaks the back button. However, there are use cases for it. It really depends on the application, the use case, and the target audience.
Sealy 13y ago
Middle clicking on a link brings it up in a separate tab. If your mouse does not have a middle click button, buy one. It is a godsend. If not, re-map one of your mouse buttons to be a Button-3. I often remap the forward button to Button 3. How often would you want to go forward to a page after you've gone back?
- ScottWhigham 13y ago
  I don't know why the top two comments here assume that everyone browsing is using a mouse. Many of us use a phone/tablet.
  - mkr-hn 13y ago
    I didn't even know mobile browsers supported tabs. I would have assumed a desktop or laptop too.
    - ScottWhigham 13y ago
      I've used the iPhone 3G+, HTC One, and Samsung Galaxy S4 and they all have tab-based browsing. The Chrome browser even prompts you to "Open in new tab?" if you long-click a link.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
- matt_ 13y ago
  You don't need to remap or buy a new mouse, ctrl+click opens in a new tab as well.
- dm2 13y ago
  Also, middle clicking a tab closes it, which is handy.
brudgers 13y ago
Why did the chicken navigate away from the news page? To get to the comments.
RiderSargent 13y ago
If you use Greasemonkey, you can use the following user script (only adds the target attribute to article links): // ==UserScript== // @grant none // @match https://news.ycombinator.com/* // @name Hacker News Tweeks // @namespace https://github.com/ridersargent // @require http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js // ==/UserScript== $(document).ready(function() { // set article-related links to open in new window/tab $('.subtext a, .title:not(:last) a').attr('target', '_blank'); });
ColinWright 13y ago
Oddly enough, this has been suggested, and discussed, several times in the past. Here is a selection: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516933 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516933 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1621892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1621892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1866268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1866268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2111082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2111082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2353291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2353291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2469065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2469065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560941 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560941 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3695029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3695029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4880204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4880204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5085659 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5085659 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5284186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5284186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5919030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5919030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5966176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5966176
pasbesoin 13y ago
There are bookmarklets (or write your own) that will parse page source and modify links to this.

Target="_blank"

9 points by leovander 13y ago

rpicard 13y ago

I actually made a Firefox add-on because I wanted to do that. It also does a few other things, but that was the main thing that I wanted. http://robert.io/alter-hn/ http://robert.io/alter-hn/

unfletch 13y ago

I can't speak for HN's motivations, but my view as a web developer has always been that, in general, target="_blank" is bad. My reasoning is twofold: 1) It's unnecessary. Opening a link in a new tab is easy for the user to do with a keyboard modifier, if that's what they want. 2) Worse, when you use target="_blank" you force that behavior on every user. There's no keyboard modifier to negate that behavior and keep the link in the same window.

ScottWhigham 13y ago
Opening a link in a new tab is easy for the user to do with a keyboard modifier Yes, on a desktop or laptop computer. Not so easy on a phone/tablet. I don't think it's bad in the least, not unless it's overused or used improperly. If a "login" link opens a new window, that's obviously poor use. If it's a link along the lines of "view this supporting article that's on another site, then come back here and join the discussion", clearly you want a new window opened - both the author and the reader want that done. Does the target site hijack the "back" button in the browser? Who cares - I've opened a new window/tab and, when I'm done, I'll close it and return to the article I was reading.
- unfletch 13y ago
  "Yes, on a desktop or laptop computer. Not so easy on a phone/tablet." I've never used Android, but it's dead simple in iOS. Just tap and hold.
  - ScottWhigham 13y ago
    Same in Android.
- tehwebguy 13y ago
  Sort of the opposite in my opinion - you can tap + hold on iOS but closing a window and going back to the previous one is way more of a pain than cmd + w on my computer.
wikwocket 13y ago
Also, it breaks the back button. However, there are use cases for it. It really depends on the application, the use case, and the target audience.

Sealy 13y ago

Middle clicking on a link brings it up in a separate tab. If your mouse does not have a middle click button, buy one. It is a godsend. If not, re-map one of your mouse buttons to be a Button-3. I often remap the forward button to Button 3. How often would you want to go forward to a page after you've gone back?

ScottWhigham 13y ago
I don't know why the top two comments here assume that everyone browsing is using a mouse. Many of us use a phone/tablet.
- mkr-hn 13y ago
  I didn't even know mobile browsers supported tabs. I would have assumed a desktop or laptop too.
  - ScottWhigham 13y ago
    I've used the iPhone 3G+, HTC One, and Samsung Galaxy S4 and they all have tab-based browsing. The Chrome browser even prompts you to "Open in new tab?" if you long-click a link.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
matt_ 13y ago
You don't need to remap or buy a new mouse, ctrl+click opens in a new tab as well.
dm2 13y ago
Also, middle clicking a tab closes it, which is handy.

brudgers 13y ago

Why did the chicken navigate away from the news page? To get to the comments.

RiderSargent 13y ago

If you use Greasemonkey, you can use the following user script (only adds the target attribute to article links): // ==UserScript== // @grant none // @match https://news.ycombinator.com/* // @name Hacker News Tweeks // @namespace https://github.com/ridersargent // @require http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js // ==/UserScript== $(document).ready(function() { // set article-related links to open in new window/tab $('.subtext a, .title:not(:last) a').attr('target', '_blank'); });

ColinWright 13y ago

Oddly enough, this has been suggested, and discussed, several times in the past. Here is a selection: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516933 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516933 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1621892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1621892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1866268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1866268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2111082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2111082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2353291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2353291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2469065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2469065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560941 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560941 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3695029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3695029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4880204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4880204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5085659 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5085659 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5284186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5284186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5919030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5919030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5966176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5966176

pasbesoin 13y ago

There are bookmarklets (or write your own) that will parse page source and modify links to this.