Renegade wrote: It should be the users choice if they want a link opened in a new window, not the designer.
But if you are linking to an external site then why would you want it to overwrite your site? The average surfer just points & clicks and so as a designer it is our job to make the whole experience the best for them and if that means taking decisions for them then I say it is our job if it makes the experience better for them!
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
Renegade posted this at 08:39 — 11th October 2005.
hm.. I don't believe so, if a user clicks on a link, then they are making the decision to leave your site or go to another page anyway, so why put an obsticle in their way?
If a user didn't want to leave the page, they would open the link in a new window or tab.
I'm with Renegade on this one, if I click a link and it opens in a new window I automatically close it (before it loads) and right click the link to open in new tab.
Gone are the days of IE where you have to have seperate windows, tab browsing is here to stay
Not that I'm an IE fan (I'm not), but it wasn't exactly ike IE came out with the idea of needing more than one window. Myself, I'd rather a new window over a new tab, jus for the fact that I usually have several things open at once, and I'm the type to know keyboard shortcuts instead of going back to the mouse to navigate. I'm too used to hitting ALT-TAB to change between windows, so having to switch to CTRL-TAB for different tabs int he program bugs me.
As for the user would open a new window if they wanted to, yes people that know what they are doing could. But do you really think the mjority of the "average joe surfers" know to how to open the link in a new tab? You know how many people I go to help them and they are browsing the internet in window that is like 400 wide by 300 tall? Most are amazed when I maximize the windows and ask how I did that.
My thoughts on opening a new page: If the link is to something away from the current site, and the link is a "also see this info" type of thing, where the context of it is they stil have more to check out on my site, then open it in a new window, letting them know that it opens in a new window. Now, if it is a bunch of links, like a list, I prefer to offer both options to make it easier for them to choose.
I do not like leaving the visitor in the dark, let them know what they are getting themselves into. I do the same for out audio files online, all links have their filesize with them so they can know in advance how big it is.
-Greg
kazimmerman posted this at 20:48 — 11th October 2005.
Ya, I'll have to get the other operating browsers (if anything I can use them for testing sites...)
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Busy posted this at 20:57 — 10th October 2005.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
sadly no
Renegade posted this at 04:33 — 11th October 2005.
He has: 3,022 posts
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It should be the users choice if they want a link opened in a new window, not the designer.
The Webmistress posted this at 07:51 — 11th October 2005.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
But if you are linking to an external site then why would you want it to overwrite your site? The average surfer just points & clicks and so as a designer it is our job to make the whole experience the best for them and if that means taking decisions for them then I say it is our job if it makes the experience better for them!
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
Renegade posted this at 08:39 — 11th October 2005.
He has: 3,022 posts
Joined: Oct 2002
hm.. I don't believe so, if a user clicks on a link, then they are making the decision to leave your site or go to another page anyway, so why put an obsticle in their way?
If a user didn't want to leave the page, they would open the link in a new window or tab.
Busy posted this at 10:31 — 11th October 2005.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
I'm with Renegade on this one, if I click a link and it opens in a new window I automatically close it (before it loads) and right click the link to open in new tab.
Gone are the days of IE where you have to have seperate windows, tab browsing is here to stay
Greg K posted this at 14:59 — 11th October 2005.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
Not that I'm an IE fan (I'm not), but it wasn't exactly ike IE came out with the idea of needing more than one window. Myself, I'd rather a new window over a new tab, jus for the fact that I usually have several things open at once, and I'm the type to know keyboard shortcuts instead of going back to the mouse to navigate. I'm too used to hitting ALT-TAB to change between windows, so having to switch to CTRL-TAB for different tabs int he program bugs me.
As for the user would open a new window if they wanted to, yes people that know what they are doing could. But do you really think the mjority of the "average joe surfers" know to how to open the link in a new tab? You know how many people I go to help them and they are browsing the internet in window that is like 400 wide by 300 tall? Most are amazed when I maximize the windows and ask how I did that.
My thoughts on opening a new page: If the link is to something away from the current site, and the link is a "also see this info" type of thing, where the context of it is they stil have more to check out on my site, then open it in a new window, letting them know that it opens in a new window. Now, if it is a bunch of links, like a list, I prefer to offer both options to make it easier for them to choose.
I do not like leaving the visitor in the dark, let them know what they are getting themselves into. I do the same for out audio files online, all links have their filesize with them so they can know in advance how big it is.
-Greg
kazimmerman posted this at 20:48 — 11th October 2005.
He has: 698 posts
Joined: Jul 2005
Perhaps do something like this:
Open Link (in a new window)
and add the target="_blank" attribute to the second link.
I think it's perfectly fine to open the link in a new window, but giving them a choice isn't such a bad idea either.
Kurtis
tallon posted this at 20:52 — 11th October 2005.
They have: 75 posts
Joined: Mar 2000
What browser allows tabs? (Ya, I use IE primarily and I've... hardly used any other.)
Busy posted this at 21:16 — 11th October 2005.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
Mozilla, Opera ... even Internet Explorer 7 is meant to have them
Renegade posted this at 08:07 — 12th October 2005.
He has: 3,022 posts
Joined: Oct 2002
You can also apparently get plugins for IE6 for tabbed browsing, but I don't know how to, because I use Firefox, not IE.
See my signiture for links to Firefox and Opera.
tallon posted this at 08:13 — 12th October 2005.
They have: 75 posts
Joined: Mar 2000
Ya, I'll have to get the other operating browsers (if anything I can use them for testing sites...)
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