Re:Jakob Nielsen: The Top Web Design Mistakes of 1999 (1999)
by toastal on Sunday September 10, 2023 @01:29AM
(#37453153)
> 2. Opening New Browser Windows
Note that this very much includes new tabs as well. Do not add target=_blank without a very good reason since this breaks the user agent defaults. One very bad reason: internal links stay in my tab, but external links open in a new tab. No they don’t, they never have, & your website is not a snowflake. What you did is remove agency as there are a myriad of ways to override how to open a link in new window/tab from the user input side, but there is no way to do this to keep it in the current tab/window because it’s expected to be the default behavior.
Note that this very much includes new tabs as well. Do not add target=_blank without a very good reason since this breaks the user agent defaults. One very bad reason: internal links stay in my tab, but external links open in a new tab. No they don’t, they never have, & your website is not a snowflake. What you did is remove agency as there are a myriad of ways to override how to open a link in new window/tab from the user input side, but there is no way to do this to keep it in the current tab/window because it’s expected to be the default behavior.