I’m doing research for my master’s degree on links opening in new windows. I’m interested in getting feedback from coders/programmers on a couple of things:
What types of links do you choose to open in a new window? (e.g., new URL; shift from web site to application, etc.)
What is the rationale you use to make that determination? (e.g., don’t want user to leave the site; new content is supplemental, etc.)
As much detail as you can reasonably supply would be great.
~Kris Johnson
theres a master’s degree in “links opening in new windows?”
sounds like a pretty short course eh :lol:
i think its some market research course on online marketing
Never.
New windows are generally frowned upon.
You need to consider the tabbed browser too. As new IE will supposedly copy safari and FF and go tabbed. If that happens then in theory there never need be a pop up. But in reality loads of people will still do it. Because of the way it displays information and demands more attention. i think slowly the more tabbed surfers there are the more it will become frowned upon. when i was a naive pre tabbed browser, pops up windows didn’t seem to bother me as there was little option. But now tabbed browsing is about and pop up blockers work nicely anything that isn’t in my base FF window is usually assume is Spam.
On the whole i never want anything to open in a new window. A new tab is fine, but I like to specify it with my right click. If a new window has to open e.g. for full page flash I like to know prior to clicking. Otherwise it just grinds my gears. So as long as I’m informed prior to clicking, I don’t mind.
As for my specifications I only really make flash sites. Never have pop ups. So all my links are internal. Ill only use a pop up if a client specifies.
i will disagree with many here and say that links should open in new windows on certain occasions. for me, the choice depends on the difficulty in returning back to the screen you are leaving.
so let’s say you’re moving from site A to site B via a link. with your standard html page, you can press the back button and return to site A easily. however, with a flash site, you’re entering dangerous territory because the browser’s native back button doesn’t work within flash. so while you might return to site A, you probably won’t get back to the screen you were just viewing. in fact, you might need to re-figure out how to get to that screen. forcing a user to think is most always a bad idea. so it depends on how deep your navigation is and how difficult each navigation decision is.
so the problem is 2 fold for flash sites. 1) flash does not support the back button. 2) flash does not natively support the “open link in new window/tab” on right click.
i would recommend reading [U]Don’t Make Me Think[/U] by Steve Krug for more advice. doing some actual usability testing on the topic would be pretty interesting and easy.
another issue is perceived site ownership. i say it’s an issue because security of personal information and identity theft are rising problems. so let’s say you’re at a site and enter some personal information, whatever it is. if that site has links that transfer me to the outside while i’m still logged in, i like to be notified that i’m being transferred to another site. doing so makes me aware that i’m viewing a separate entity on the web and that the personal information is not being passed from one site (trusted) to another (possibly not trustworthy).
this is especially true when i’m leaving a secure (https) site. at https sites, users are notified that they are entering a secure area (either by the site or through the lock icon or other visuals in a browser). but when leaving a https site, users don’t always realize they are leaving an unsecured area. in that case also, i think new window links are appropriate.
i don’t know of any cases off hand, but it seems to me a site’s owner is protecting their liability by giving a user additional notification that he/she is leaving their site.
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