Geek Soap Box

Going through my Google Reader articles, I came across a recent article on AriWriter that raises the same issue that has been percolating in my mind recently: just when is it best practice for a Web site to force a link to open in an external (new) window?

The “Web standard” these days — based on my own unscientific assessment of the sites I visit — is that “internal” links — those going to another page or article on the same site — should open in the same window, while “external” links — those pointing to different sites, such as my link to AriWriter above — open in a new window via the HTML attribute “target=_blank” in the <A> tag.  What has confused me, though, is the increasing trend by my coworkers to utilize the “target=_blank” parameter on every link off of major portal and homepages, even if they just point to lower-level internal pages.

The problem with this trend is that many browsers don’t like the forced pop-up window and are now programmed to block it by default. For instance, browsing my company Web site, I can’t even open the links in the embedded Flash movie on my Mac running Google Chrome without right-clicking to open the link manually.  Hence my confusion.

I have not seen any new Internet best practice dialogues extolling the virtues of hijacking the user’s experience and dictating for them what does and doesn’t open where.  Like Ari, I am more of the Jakob Nielsen school of Web practitioners, and his famous thoughts on the matter still ring as true as ever:

Opening up new browser windows is like a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer’s carpet. Don’t pollute my screen with any more windows, thanks (particularly since current operating systems have miserable window management). If I want a new window, I will open it myself!

Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over the user’s machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the Back button which is the normal way users return to previous sites. Users often don’t notice that a new window has opened, especially if they are using a small monitor where the windows are maximized to fill up the screen. So a user who tries to return to the origin will be confused by a grayed out Back button.

This, of course, is different from linking to non-HTML files such as PDF documents, where Nielsen contends that it is not only proper but sensible to open the file in a new window with various elements of the browser chrome (UI buttons, title bar, etc.) eliminated.  Here, I respectfully disagree and use the same internal/external standard as I do with any other link.  In this day and age, users are pretty much used to seeing PDF files, and these files now feature many of the same dynamic elements that populate Web pages so there is little need for a distinction any longer.

I guess there really is no correct answer to the question posed by this article’s title.  But if any random fellow Web Monkeys stumble upon this article for whatever reason, I’m curious to know what you think.