Now for the site creator, I would only open new windows for things like large charts or other large images.

And BS makes a good point above. Now that I think about it, I do the same thing… automatically close source windows and tabs (to keep everything from getting cluttered).

I can see why it seems like a good idea to open links in new windows but I think that when you really think it through, the same window link argument just edges it.

however I think it’s good to differentiate internal and external links in appearance. how wikipedia does it (with an additional icon for external links which opens them in a new tab) seems a best practice to me.

I am looking for exceptions to these conventions.

There is another good reason external links shoul open in a blank window: some sites use immediate redirection, making the back button inoperant, and the visitor cannot go back to your site.
Now, THIS is spammy, if not hijacking, whatever you call it.

I guess I will never know!

But, again, I’m pretty biased as a maccie, so just in my subjective judgment, I’ve set my blog’s links to always open in new tabs/windows. Hope I’m not annoying anyone too much, hmmm…

Who has time to try to fix things? Maybe it’s a ploy to keep IT wages high, while alienating the average users.

The computer field has forgotten the KISS method (keep it simple).

I happen to help individuals with ‘disabilities’ and of the ‘elderly’ category and they are getting more and more alienated with each software release (most any product they are using – starting from the OS and more – oh wait, that would most likely be MICROSOFT products!).

Most of these people have limited income. To keep upgrading software and requiring new hardware purchases is a way to alienate consumers quickly. They just give up.

Think about it folks, when you lose the users because of complexity they generally find it’s no longer a convenience and just stop purchasing and upgrading. That would in turn hit the sellers of ISP, software companies, and technical support.
Hmmm…. Think of all that money you can put into your IRA if we didn’t have to purchase so much to keep going.

By golly this may be a good idea for everyone… just throw out the computers and go spend time with the family!!
Hmmm….. would that change the online bullying issue?

Just wait til you have to ‘upgrade’ your car to get to work!
Can you hear it now, “but bossman my wireless connection was down”….

Hurry, someone start a petition – outlawing Microsoft from our vehicles!!!! LOL

I found this site when looking for conversation on “opening links in new windows”. I was looking for code to set links to open in new windows because I’d decided to include more syndicated content on my blog.

As a surfer, I always right click links to open in a new tab. With the syndicated content, I wanted to keep the readers. But with the ease of blogging now, i hate going back and fixing links. So this discussion has helped a lot.

Also as a surfer, i find myself getting tired of windows and extra tabs. I’m starting to enjoy the history on the back an forward buttons. So I figured if the link does open in a new window, the reader can just use the history to come back to the blog.

Allowing the reader to choose (if they right click) seems to be enough. Especially for those of us who read while working.

Why annoy someone who is visiting another link on your site?

For myself, with Firefox on Linux, I use the middle mouse button to open them in a new tab. This way I can return to the previous document with Control+W.

I don’t like using the back button, because many documents want to reload themself.

BTW, any one knows how I can work around this (the links are http links, not text material that can be pre-loaded to show in window if needed, before hand unfortunately).

I’m just getting my feet wet with blogs and have tons yet to learn, but previous business experiences have shown it better to yield a customer gracefully than to wrestle one to the ground.

Today, I got trapped on a site that very much wanted to install some software on my HD. I ended up killing my browser with the three-finger salute to get away from what was clearly a mal-ware trap. D’ya think I’ll EVER be back? Not in this life, Jack.

I don’t want to do that to my viewers except by writing such compelling prose that they willingly stay.

Except for the options I mentioned above, I think my viewers would feel like a link that ONLY opens in a new window is the beginning of such a trap.