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links target new window

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
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Is there a known reason why some links in posts result in a new window opening, and some don't? Obviously the code is responsible but I couldn't tell exactly why it works that way. Couldn't find any old posts about this specifically.
 
Apr 5, 2000
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This is just a random guess, but say you open a thread. Theres a link to a different thread. You click it, target=newwindow or whatever. Inside that thread is a link to cnn.com or something. Clicking that will also target "newwindow", ie that window instead of opening up a new one. That happens to me a lot too but thats the only thing I could think of

http://subscriber.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=1064714

Like that
 

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
12,232
30
101
Links that are created with the WYSIWYG Editor will not open in a new window.


What Angrymarshmello described happens as well.
 

Spyro

Diamond Member
Dec 4, 2001
3,366
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Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I hate it when links open new windows, it's rude, annoying, and amatuerish.
I didn't think it was all that terrible! After all, you see what the link points to? Thats the goal....... Right??? :confused:
 

TheOmegaCode

Platinum Member
Aug 7, 2001
2,954
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Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I hate it when links open new windows, it's rude, annoying, and amatuerish.
I hate when I'm browsing a site/thread/whatever and a link takes me away from that site. Although opening up a new window is as easy is 'middle clicking' the link, so I really don't know why there's a need to force people to open new windows...
 

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
12,232
30
101
Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I hate it when links open new windows, it's rude, annoying, and amatuerish.

I disagree 100%.
 

Barnaby W. Füi

Elite Member
Aug 14, 2001
12,343
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Originally posted by: Spyro
Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I hate it when links open new windows, it's rude, annoying, and amatuerish.
I didn't think it was all that terrible! After all, you see what the link points to? Thats the goal....... Right??? :confused:

I keep one browser window open. When a new one gets opened, I immediately close it. I don't like stacking windows over each other when I only need one with lots of tabs.

I hate when I'm browsing a site/thread/whatever and a link takes me away from that site. Although opening up a new window is as easy is 'middle clicking' the link, so I really don't know why there's a need to force people to open new windows...

Exactly. If a link opens a new window, you 1. have no way of knowing until you click, 2. normally have no control over it. If it's just a normal link, I can easily control whether I go straight to it, open it in a new window, or open it in a new tab, or open it in a can of coffee.

I disagree 100%.

It's rude and annoying for reasons stated above. It removes choice, and is not even possible to detect. How is that not annoying?

As far as being amatuerish, I suppose that's subjective, and it depends on who you consider an amatuer, and at what. The web is supposed to be one homogenous WEB, not a page here, and a...page in a different window there. Let me surf around as i please, and don't go popping up crap in my face.
 

Spyro

Diamond Member
Dec 4, 2001
3,366
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I keep one browser window open. When a new one gets opened, I immediately close it. I don't like stacking windows over each other when I only need one with lots of tabs.

Bah! When I click one of those links the page opens up in a background tab. I don't stack windows or crowd tabs. You're a mozilla user right? Remember, tabs are power.
 

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
76
I'd expect in a tabbed browser, any new window links would open a new tab if you've got the browser set to *gasp* open windows in a new tab. Blame the browser if they open in a new window when they've designed the browser to use tabs. :)

I expect links to another site to open in a new window. It just makes sense, I'm leaving the site, you don't want me to completely stop seeing your stuff, so keep your own site open. I don't see how it's so terrible to have a new window open. That's why we have an OS that can have different things in different windows. Otherwise we'd all be using AOL's interface (or actually one even less useful, it'd be DOS-mode).

Especially in a forum environment, if I'm in the middle of a thread, I'd like to just be able to click a link which is being used for descriptive purposes and have it open in a new window, so I don't lose the thread. On some sites you could just hit the back button, but Fusetalk seems to have difficulty working properly with IE (whether IE properly works is irrelevant), so you end up with pages expiring and having to be refreshed and submit data again, or you lose entries in a text form or something like that. Pop up a new window, read the content, close the window. Simple, easy, exactly what a windowing OS is intended to do.

But personal preferences aside, I just want it to always work the same way at least on a particular site. This WYSIWYG editor seems to have a lot of glitches like this.
 

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
76
Uhm, yeah. It "breaks" the back button? It's a new window. Should be a new instance of the browser executable but usually isn't. It's equivalent to clicking the browser's icon and pasting in the URL. How can that have a history for the back button? And what's wrong with simply closing the window and going right back to where you were in the previous window?

Pandering to people who can't figure out how windows work isn't the way to go. :) And of course, if you don't like Mozilla opening in a new window instead of a tab, change it. :)

I personally prefer that if I'm leaving a domain, I want it in a new window. I often open several links within a page at the same time, so that the pages can all load while I'm still reading. It's a pain to always have to use the shift key or right click and open in new window. Sure it's just a few extra clicks, but switching windows is fewer clicks. Not being able to know which way it's going to happen is an annoyance.

Perhaps every browser should have an option "Ignore new target window" or some other description that people can understand that doesn't reference the actual code. Having an option for "always open in new window" would be a little less than useful, since you don't want EVERY link to go to a new window. Maybe a "open links to new domain in new window".