We get complaints …
I’m just letting you know that the way every single link on your website (even the ones that go to pages within in your site, like blog posts) opens in a new window is _really_ annoying.
This is actually my own idiosyncratic preference. I’d rather close unwanted windows than inadvertently close (rather than backtracking) a window I’ve wandered over to from a site. That said, there are plenty of ways to make sure of that (I tend to right-click-openinnew on links automatically anyway), so …
I think I’ll throw it open to a poll.
60 view(s)
The irritated individual should try using Firefox, then he/she can click on your links using the center button (scroll wheel) of the mouse, thus opening them in a new tab. This preserves navigation to source, yet defeats proliferation of windows. (You can also right-click on the link and choose ‘Open in new tab’ but center-click is faster)
Also, annoyed person, try hitting your [Window] key and the D key at the same time. Bam! all open windows minimize at once, ready for you to pluck them off the START bar. Ahh, the sense of making them all march in line at your very whim!…
Personally, I like the fact that your page does that. I hate having to go back to the page I was on originally.
I’m hearing that there’s a problem with the Preview buttons here (to note another complaint …) … let’s see …
Okay, the preview button seems to be working for me (hmmm, sounds like a tech support joke), albeit slowly …
The follow-up from the original plaintiff was:
Actually, DOF, I do use the middle click function a lot. I just hate having new windows open. I understand that ***Dave and others like it, but for me it’s annoying. If I want something in a new window, I’ll open it myself. This is one of those things that are a “user’s right to choose”. And personally, I’m pro-choice. Besides, the target
attribute is deprecated.
More on the “deprecated” argument here, and here.
Part of what’s amusing about the discussion is (a) the folks who intensely dislike new windows being opened, and (b) the folks who feel it’s critical, and have turned to non-HTML workarounds (e.g., Java) to open up new windows (which I find even more annoying, since the window functionality then is completely beyond the normal browser controls).
The point of the deprecation seems to be because windows (and frames and tabs and the like) are outside the scope of document markup, and thus not appropriate for a markup language. That doesn’t mean they are evil or even that the ideal model is the right one.
I do admit that my use of the _blank target for links by default is both idiosyncratic and based on needs I had a few browsers ago. Just on that basis, I’m tempted to change, but I am interested in feedback.
At work on IE I love it.
At home with Foxfire I just open a new tab.
Count me among the folks who prefer to have a seperate window open up.
Well, I’m not sure just how I managed to set it up this way, but your links automatically open in a new Firefox tab. So I voted for “I’ts your site.”
And as for being pro-choice, I absolutely have a choice of whether or not I want to click on links, and even whether or not to visit ***Dave Does the Blog. So that’s not an issue for me.
But for those who insist on choice, isn’t there some way you can set things up so each user can choose his own font, color, page layout, which pictures of you on the sidebar should display, etc.? I mean, either we have free choice or we don’t, right?
(Okay, that got a bit sarcastic. Disregard the last two paragraphs if you like.)
Well, most browsers do allow you to override the font things are displayed in …
Opening up in a new tab is a function of how you have FF set up.
Didn’t Doyce used to have a toggle or something that allowed the reader to choose links opening inline or in new windows?
There’s an old trick that blogs used to use (incl. this one) to allow that by default. Did some funky Javascript thing, as I recall. Don’t see it around any more, which means either (a) it doesn’t work any more with “modern” blog/browser technology, or (b) folks just let people choose via their own mouse controls.
On one hand, I am all for standards compliancy and moving forward with the changes in the language. I do web programming for a living so every so often I have to get out my ‘deprecation stick’ and go beat some of the people I work with who still put content up the old b and i tags instead of the strong and em tags.
On the other hand, it saves me the effort of opening them in a seperate window on my own as I have been too lazy to setup a Firefox install on my machine yet so I voted for keeping them since it allows me an extra bit of laziness during the day.
( I have and normally use IE, but have an old NS and Opera install for testing. )
( Sidenote: ***Dave, check out the Google promotional stuff for Firefox, it is a small banner on your site that if people go through and install Firefox from it will dump a chunk of change into your Google ads account I believe. )
I do strong/em by default (or let my systems do it), but it’s irksome vs. b/i. All of which should probably be replaced by CSS text styles anyway, right?
I’ll check out that Google thang, though …