Should external links really open in the same window?

[Trevor Thompson-2]

Hi folks,

The conventional wisdom is that a link should not open a new window,
even if it's a link to another site. Neilsen listed this as number 9
in the top 10 design mistakes.

But an unofficial survey around our office found that most people
prefer links to new sites to open up in new windows/tabs.  They said
that new windows or tabs make it easier to explore links to other,
possibly- irrelevant, but possibly-useful sites, and still come
quickly back to the main site at any time, exactly where you left it.
Some people said they *expect* sites to behave that way.

Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
revisited? Does anyone know of any real study or data that relates to this?

Trevor Thompson
User Experience Architect

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[Jeff Howard]

I view sites that take it upon themselves to spawn new windows in
about the same vein as sites that automatically resize my window or
move it around. It's too presumptuous.

Keep your code off my browser.

I can anticipate how links on any given site will behave based on
past experience with other websites. Past experience tells me that a
single click on a link opens that link in that window.

But past experience also tells me that hyperlinks can be opened in
baroque ways if I choose, depending on the controls my browser
provides and my situational preference. If I prefer to open links in
a new window or a new tab, I can do so with no trouble; but it's my
choice, not the site's.

Automatically targeting links to a new window is draconian. It can't
be circumvented. It enforces a particular conception of appropriate
behavior. If I prefer links to open in some other way I'm out of
luck.

Even when I don't have a preference, the behavior is usually
unexpected because by default external links look no different than
internal links. If an object behaves differently it should look
different. Some sites get this right but generally there's no way to
anticipate whether a link is going to suddenly spawn a window. So I
expect them to behave themselves.

Even if there weren't philosophical objections, the practical
problems of users not realizing a new window had been opened and then
subsequently being confused about the disabled back button should be
enough to discourage the behavior.

// jeff


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31169


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[Jens Meiert-4]

> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
> revisited?

Going for the very short answer: No, as this choice should be left to
the user. Talking studies I do not know any that does not verify what
Nielsen suggested in another article, namely only to open new windows
for non-web documents [1] (albeit there might be other, rare
exceptions […]).


[1] http://www.useit.com/alertbox/open_new_windows.html

--
Jens Meiert
http://meiert.com/en/
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[Jeff Gimzek]

On Jul 9, 2008, at 1:08 PM, Jens Meiert wrote:

>> Trevor wrote:
>>
>> The conventional wisdom is that a link should not open a new  
>> window, even if it's a link to another site. Neilsen listed this as  
>> number 9 in the top 10 design mistakes.
>>
>> But an unofficial survey around our office found that most people  
>> prefer links to new sites to open up in new windows/tabs.  They  
>> said that new windows or tabs make it easier to explore links to  
>> other, possibly- irrelevant, but possibly-useful sites, and still  
>> come quickly back to the main site at any time, exactly where you  
>> left it. Some people said they *expect* sites to behave that way.
>>
>> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be  
>> revisited? Does anyone know of any real study or data that relates  
>> to this?
>>
> Going for the very short answer: No, as this choice should be left to
> the user. Talking studies I do not know any that does not verify what
> Nielsen suggested in another article, namely only to open new windows
> for non-web documents [1] (albeit there might be other, rare
> exceptions […]).
>
>
> [1] http://www.useit.com/alertbox/open_new_windows.html

As with many questions on this list, I dont feel there is a hard and  
fast rule, but that context and user base plays an important part as  
to wether the new window function is appropriate.

I personally always open external links in a new tab by right/command  
clicking. I think that if the link is to an external site - ie: not  
within the main site the user is browsing - that this functionality is  
preferable.

In fact, I wish google searches would do it without my having to right  
click, as each time I don't right-click, I lose my search results.

I think the tab feature of modern browsers trumps all the reasons  
listed on the above link for not creating a new window/tab

It may be helpful to indicate a new window is going to open with a  
little icon, or to make sure the window size is smaller than the one  
below it, but the newbie mistake of losing your window is mainly a  
Windoze problem. This problem can also be addressed the way About and  
Google Images does by having a top frame that allow one to return to  
the previous window, or if it an internal page that needs a new  
window, bread-crumbing or having an internal [X close] link.


jd



--

Jeff Gimzek | Senior User Experience Designer

jeffreygimzek@...   |   www.springstudio.com



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[Chauncey Wilson]

If you want to do comparisons, then you might want to have an item
created in a new window.  Tabs are great, but sometimes you want to
compare items using multiple windows.  There might also be some legal
reasons for completely separating one source from another source.

Chauncey

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Jens Meiert <jens@...> wrote:

>> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
>> revisited?
>
> Going for the very short answer: No, as this choice should be left to
> the user. Talking studies I do not know any that does not verify what
> Nielsen suggested in another article, namely only to open new windows
> for non-web documents [1] (albeit there might be other, rare
> exceptions […]).
>
>
> [1] http://www.useit.com/alertbox/open_new_windows.html
>
> --
> Jens Meiert
> http://meiert.com/en/
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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[Gretchen Anderson-2]

<self-referential design point>

I hate it when links open in the same window, unless they are navigational within a site. Usually I'm opening a few references (links from blog, for example) and I want to keep the main context to read more/find other links.

</self-referential design point>

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces@... [mailto:discuss-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Jens Meiert
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 1:08 PM
To: Trevor Thompson
Cc: discuss@...
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Should external links really open in the samewindow?

> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
> revisited?

Going for the very short answer: No, as this choice should be left to
the user. Talking studies I do not know any that does not verify what
Nielsen suggested in another article, namely only to open new windows
for non-web documents [1] (albeit there might be other, rare
exceptions […]).


[1] http://www.useit.com/alertbox/open_new_windows.html

--
Jens Meiert
http://meiert.com/en/
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[Björn Simonson]

The Swedish Administrative Development Agency, Verva
(www.verva.se/english), publish accessibility guidelines and they
clearly state that (my translation) "No matter if links lead to
pages within the same site or to an external site they shall open in
the same window".

I'm also quite sure that W3Cs Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
state something along the same lines somewhere.

And, the target="blank" attribute is deprecated in HTML and not a
part of the XHTML specification so there is no way to open a link in
a new window without Javascript.

My personal opinion is that I can easily choose to open a link in a
new window/tab but there is no way that I know of to choose to open a
link that opens a new window in my current window.

So make every link open in the same window but inform the user when
the link leads to an external site so they can choose to open the
link the way they see fit.

Best regards

Björn


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31169



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[Ray Shah]

With respect to tabs, I really like the ability to turn a tab into a new window. Safari 3 has this feature, Firefox 3 does not as yet.

Nielsen's point is still valid in certain instances. In the case of PDAs /phones a new window is not possible, I think. Observing some less tech-savvy people I work with, I think tabs are somehow less frightening than a whole new window.

So there are two unknowns here (in the web environment at least) that are beyond our control. How will the platform behave and what does the user (reasonably) expect.

It would be interesting to see a reappraisal of this issue by Nielsen.

Best,

Ray



----- Original Message ----
From: Chauncey Wilson <chauncey.wilson@...>
To: Jens Meiert <jens@...>
Cc: discuss@...
Sent: Wednesday, July 9, 2008 7:25:23 PM
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Should external links really open in the same window?

If you want to do comparisons, then you might want to have an item
created in a new window.  Tabs are great, but sometimes you want to
compare items using multiple windows.  There might also be some legal
reasons for completely separating one source from another source.

Chauncey

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Jens Meiert <jens@...> wrote:

>> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
>> revisited?
>
> Going for the very short answer: No, as this choice should be left to
> the user. Talking studies I do not know any that does not verify what
> Nielsen suggested in another article, namely only to open new windows
> for non-web documents [1] (albeit there might be other, rare
> exceptions […]).
>
>
> [1] http://www.useit.com/alertbox/open_new_windows.html
>
> --
> Jens Meiert
> http://meiert.com/en/
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss@...
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help

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[John Vaughan]

Context.  Context. Context.  It's what we do.

Whenever you open an external site in the same window as your own site,
you've just blown any Context you had "out the window", so to speak.

We expect certain app-like behavior within our site to mimic other desktop
behaviors.  Lots of a site's "domain" reference info, like online help,
errormessages, status popups, etc. are expected to appear as popup windows.

Seems sensible that - if I send you to info that's not in my site (an
external link) - then it'll appear in its own window (with it's own
behaviors).

Net/Net:  Do I really want to voluntarily orphan my own site?

There may well be viable exceptions, but most casual links should open in
their own windows.

As an interim solution:  I've always thought it would be helpful for my site
to have it's own startBar control  (i.e. If I'm allowing you access to other
sites through my site, then I should take responsibility for helping you to
"manage" those new browser windows, too).  The "tabbed browsers" we have now
are a step in the right direction, but a more robust multiwindow management
feature/tool could be very useful to our craft...

John Vaughan
The Communication Studio LLC


----- Original Message -----
From: "Trevor Thompson" <trevor.thompson@...>
To: <discuss@...>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 11:20 AM
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Should external links really open in the same
window?

> Hi folks,
>
> The conventional wisdom is that a link should not open a new window, even
> if it's a link to another site. Neilsen listed this as number 9 in the top
> 10 design mistakes.
>
> But an unofficial survey around our office found that most people prefer
> links to new sites to open up in new windows/tabs.  They said that new
> windows or tabs make it easier to explore links to other, possibly-
> irrelevant, but possibly-useful sites, and still come quickly back to the
> main site at any time, exactly where you left it. Some people said they
> *expect* sites to behave that way.
>
> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
> revisited? Does anyone know of any real study or data that relates to
> this?
>
> Trevor Thompson
> User Experience Architect
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss@...
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help 

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[John Vaughan]

> Even when I don't have a preference, the behavior is usually
> unexpected because by default external links look no different than
> internal links. If an object behaves differently it should look
> different. Some sites get this right but generally there's no way to
> anticipate whether a link is going to suddenly spawn a window. So I
> expect them to behave themselves.

Good point, Jeff.

I probably should've mentioned that I try to identify my site's "external
links" with a unique visual (my favorite is a small globe), supported by an
on-screen legend and - of course - a mouseover tooltip that tells you
explicitly what'll happen when you click on that link happening.




----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Howard" <id@...>
To: <discuss@...>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 3:52 PM
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Should external links really open in the
samewindow?

>I view sites that take it upon themselves to spawn new windows in
> about the same vein as sites that automatically resize my window or
> move it around. It's too presumptuous.
>
> Keep your code off my browser.
>
> I can anticipate how links on any given site will behave based on
> past experience with other websites. Past experience tells me that a
> single click on a link opens that link in that window.
>
> But past experience also tells me that hyperlinks can be opened in
> baroque ways if I choose, depending on the controls my browser
> provides and my situational preference. If I prefer to open links in
> a new window or a new tab, I can do so with no trouble; but it's my
> choice, not the site's.
>
> Automatically targeting links to a new window is draconian. It can't
> be circumvented. It enforces a particular conception of appropriate
> behavior. If I prefer links to open in some other way I'm out of
> luck.
>
> Even when I don't have a preference, the behavior is usually
> unexpected because by default external links look no different than
> internal links. If an object behaves differently it should look
> different. Some sites get this right but generally there's no way to
> anticipate whether a link is going to suddenly spawn a window. So I
> expect them to behave themselves.
>
> Even if there weren't philosophical objections, the practical
> problems of users not realizing a new window had been opened and then
> subsequently being confused about the disabled back button should be
> enough to discourage the behavior.
>
> // jeff
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Posted from the new ixda.org
> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31169
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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[Carolynn Stanford]

Personally, I'm a big fan of opening links in a new window or tab BUT
the important usability issue here is that I am not a good
representative of the end user of the sites I build and I would
imagine the majority of people on this list, as well as most of their
colleagues, aren't either.

Obviously this depends on your end user but one of the main usability
reasons for not opening links in new windows is that it confuses
inexperienced users - it makes the back button useless and they
don't know how to close new windows and get back to where they were.
It does sound a bit insane ('People don't know how to close windows
in 2008??!') but I think given our work environments and personal
knowledge, it's easy to forget that there are heaps of people out
there who do not have our level of experience and general computing
confidence! I recently did some usability testing in Scandinavia and
one of the testers mentioned that he helps a lot of people shop
online because they cannot do it on their own - they have access to
the internet but are scared of e-com for various reasons. To give you
some context, this man heads up a society for an illness and the
internet is the easiest way for these people to get products but they
phone him and ask him to talk them through the process... my point
being people who are confused by new windows are probably less, but
definitely still exist!

Another thing to consider, Carolyn Snyder mentions a geographic
effect... I don't think the article has been updated in a while but
I wonder if anyone has been able to gather more information on this?


'The geographic effect

It's possible that non-technical users in high-tech areas such as
the Silicon Valley may learn these tricks sooner than users in other
places. I don't have proof that this geographic effect exists, but I
became aware of the possibility when comparing notes with another
usability specialist from San Francisco. She'd been conducting
usability tests for years, and had never seen some of the problems
I've described. We theorized that she was drawing her test
participants from a pool of people who had an unusually high
probability of learning Web-browsing tricks from tech-savvy friends
or family.

Suggestion: If you're located in a high-tech area, it's a good idea
to screen out usability test participants who have anything to do with
Web site development unless they actually are your target market. And
talk to people who are developing and testing sites in other parts of
the country (or world) to hear what they're finding. '

http://www.snyderconsulting.net/article_7tricks.htm

After a discussion with a group of usability folk a few years ago, I
work along these lines:
- formatted files such as a PDF always open in a new window... most
users (me included!) close the 'Acrobat' window and then they've
lost the site
- when help pages are accessed from a contextual link (for example
'Delivery charges' whiIst in the payment process) these info pages
open in a new smaller window so that the user doesn't lose the info
they have typed in so far and they can keep the help information
visible while moving through other pages in the site
- if a link will open in a new window it has an icon with alt text

:-)


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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[Abhijith Rao]

Jeff,

In fact it does have that as an option and you can set it up in your search
*Preferences*. Scroll down the *Preferences* page to "Results Window: Open
search results in a new browser window." and check it.

- Abhijith

2008/7/10 Jeff Gimzek <listserv@...>:

>
> In fact, I wish google searches would do it without my having to right
> click, as each time I don't right-click, I lose my search results.
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[Jens Meiert-4]

> And, the target="blank" attribute is deprecated in HTML and not a
> part of the XHTML specification so there is no way to open a link in
> a new window without Javascript.

(@target [1] will be available in HTML 5 though, and opening new
windows/tabs is currently even specified in CSS 3 [2].)

> So make every link open in the same window but inform the user when
> the link leads to an external site so they can choose to open the
> link the way they see fit.

And still it's hypertext. Understanding the Web as a whole there is no
concept like an "external site", so there might be no point in marking
links as "external", especially when current document/sites fails in
helping the user.


[1] http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/html5/spec/Overview.html?rev=1.1046#the-a
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-hyperlinks/#the-target-new

--
Jens Meiert
http://meiert.com/en/
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[Sven Jenzer]

>> So make every link open in the same window but inform the user when
>> the link leads to an external site so they can choose to open the
>> link the way they see fit.
>>    
The above way is be the best and clearest for users that are not very
familiar with browser-functionality and for people with assistive
technologies (the back-button is one of the importest things for
beginners). A Screen-Reader e.g. JAWS dos'nt inform the blind that a new
window opens, what is very hard (and for blind beginners impossible) to
recognize.

The swiss foundatiion access-for-all recommends this for good
accessibility.
In reference to WCAG 1.0 CP 13.1: "Clearly identify the target of each link"
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#link-text

And it ist very easy for advanced users to open a link (by
right-clicking) in a new window/tab.


---
best regards
Sven Jenzer
http://www.zonicdesign.ch
http://www.access4all.ch/blog/
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[jo frudd-2]

Hi Trevor

I think your unofficial survey of the office probably included
individuals who either are involved in the design and build of sites
or who use the internet everyday.  

Its very easy for us super users to start designing interfaces that
support the way we work, but you should always consider the target
audience of the product. As super users we can easily choose to open
a link in a new window or tab if we want to.

In many usability studies I have conducted on web applications and
sites, users (including those who use the internet everyday and those
who use it a few times a week) consistently struggle with new windows
and popups spawning and often get disorientated.  This problem is
magnified for screen reader users.  

One of Nielsen's internationally recognised usability heuristics is
user control and freedom. Let the user choose how they want that link
to open, don't make that choice for them.

There are some instances where you may be forced to use a new or
popup window (some virtual learning environments for example) in
these cases always inform user that you are doing so via the title
tag and an icon if possible (the @media site has a nice one opens in
new window icon)







. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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[Whitney Quesenbery-4]

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Jeff Howard <id@...> wrote:
> I view sites that take it upon themselves to spawn new windows in
> about the same vein as sites that automatically resize my window or
> move it around. It's too presumptuous.

Hear, hear.

Rules can always be broken for a good reason, but start with the
default that a link is just a link.

I've spent hours watching people be confused, even if only
momentarily, when anything else happens. It's not that they can't
recover, it's that you've made them think about something that should
not require thinking.

It's also a much more serious problem for people using some kinds of
alternate browsers, who may have much more difficulty navigating back
to their site. In the same window, it's a simple, well-known action:
BACK (or the equivalent key or voice command). In a new window, they
have to switch to concentrating on navigation in order to figure out
where the old window is, or what it's called, and how to get back to
it.

I've never understood why sites are so self-important that they must
treat other sites as foreign bodies. If you don't want me to follow a
link, why did you put it there? Why are you making people learn your
particular convention for "this link does something unexpected"?

I've even seen this behavior between different sections of corporate
intranets, as though the XXX Department is in a completely different
world. I watched while one user opened no less than 12 windows while
trying to complete a single, relatively straight-forward task, but one
which meant he needed to gather information from several sources.

This is not to say that there is never a reason to open a new window,
but not for simply linking to a new page.



--
Whitney Quesenbery
www.wqusability.com

Storytelling for User Experience Design
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storytelling
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[Elena Melendy]

This is such an interesting thread.

Whitney Quesenbery wrote

> I've never understood why sites are so self-important that they must
> treat other sites as foreign bodies. If you don't want me to follow a
> link, why did you put it there? Why are you making people learn your
> particular convention for "this link does something unexpected"?
>
> I've even seen this behavior between different sections of corporate
> intranets, as though the XXX Department is in a completely different
> world. I watched while one user opened no less than 12 windows while
> trying to complete a single, relatively straight-forward task, but one
> which meant he needed to gather information from several sources.
>  

I'm not defending this practice, but I think I do understand it. It all
depends on what kind of site you're talking about.

I haven't seen much discussion of content in this thread, but let's
take, for example, an e-commerce site. Perhaps there are business or
marketing concerns that end up affecting the site design. Say, for
example, it's a travel agency we're talking about. The user has done a
search for possible vacations and has an array of options that link to
external vendors. Those vendors have multiple ads, some of which may be
competing travel agencies. Or the user may choose to make a purchase
directly from the vendor.

If the IA people present a design with a single window, the
marketing/business people might think: the customers will end up making
their purchases from another source. Whereas if the original window
stays open, we'll remain visible and in the forefront of the customer's
mind, thus more likely to be the point of purchase.

(Uh oh! this is reminding me of the thread about the "purity" of site
design! No, I don't mean designers should be thinking in these terms
when they design--I mean they should want to keep their jobs.)

It's similar with those big corporate websites. The divisions are
staking out their identities at the expense of the site design. I'm
relatively certain that the people responsible for the design of those
sites were making compromises from political pressure--not designing out
of conviction that they were doing what's best for the user.

But this raises an important point, related to what Jens said here:

> And still it's hypertext. Understanding the Web as a whole there is no
> concept like an "external site", so there might be no point in marking
> links as "external", especially when current document/sites fails in
> helping the user.

Was it on this list or somewhere else that someone referenced J.J.
Garrett? Conceptually speaking, the hypertext model absolutely does
reflect the foundations and ideals underlying the web--but imho it
doesn't reflect the direction in which the industry is heading. As the
web becomes increasingly commercial and its front and back-end
technologies develop, we're designing software more than hypertext. Of
course, it depends on who we are (academics? consultants? coders?
information architects?), where we work, and what kind of sites we produce.

I think I've said enough for one morning.

Elena
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[Elena Melendy]

One more thing--


Trevor Thompson wrote:
> But an unofficial survey around our office found that most people
> prefer links to new sites to open up in new windows/tabs.  They said
> that new windows or tabs make it easier to explore links to other,
> possibly- irrelevant, but possibly-useful sites, and still come
> quickly back to the main site at any time, exactly where you left it.

Safari has this lovely "Snapback" feature that provides that function--a
temporary bookmark or placeholder. It's the only thing I really like
about Safari.


Elena
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[John Vaughan]

Perhaps we're getting to the heart of the question:  Do we differentiate
between sites (points of view) on the web?

The issue isn't necessarily one of foreign-ness or designer-ego.  As
UxP/IA/IxD/whatevers, we are constantly grouping and naming things so that
this big confusing world of ours becomes more managable.  The mere fact that
we now have technology that allows any page to be linked to any other page
doesn't diminish our need to be able to differentiate one thing from
another.  Hypertext linking is not the end of usability - Quite the
contrary, it seems.

The assumption that the Web is a boundary-less continuuum is intellectually
tempting, but kind of unrealistic - given the limitations & power of our
understanding. Ultimately, the question is whether we can - or need to -
maintain perspective: "Self" and "Other".   Boundaries have value in and of
themselves.  Differentiating things is an essential step towards
understanding the whole.

Saying that "a link is just a link" is sort of like saying that "a thing is
just a thing".  It is a tautology, redundant, true and relatively
meaningless.  A menubar navigation link is not a sidebar navigation link is
not a "contact us" link is not an in-page anchor link is not a link to an
external site, etc.  They don't act alike and shouldn't.  Context.  Context.
Context.

Vulcan Mind-melds and Borg-like absorbtion by The Overmind ("Resistance is
futile"...) are cool in a scary, "Childhood's End" kind of way, but for the
time being I'll opt for useful, usable boundaries and frames.

* If part of our mandate is to provide useful meta-information, then we
should helpfully identify when we are guiding someone to info that is not
"in" their current domain/POV.  Especially since it's entirely likely that
the new domain may display different structure, behaviors and terminology.

John Vaughan
http://www.jcvtcs.com


BTW:  We've all been frustrated when we encounter the counter-productive
barriers identified in Whitney's example of unneccessary corporate
information silo-ing:  Yes, anything - anything at all (including UI
design) - can be done badly.  But that's why we have job descriptions.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Whitney Quesenbery" <whitneyq@...>
To: <discuss@...>
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 7:45 AM
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Should external links really open in the
samewindow?

> On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Jeff Howard <id@...> wrote:
>> I view sites that take it upon themselves to spawn new windows in
>> about the same vein as sites that automatically resize my window or
>> move it around. It's too presumptuous.
>
> Hear, hear.
>
> Rules can always be broken for a good reason, but start with the
> default that a link is just a link.
>
> I've spent hours watching people be confused, even if only
> momentarily, when anything else happens. It's not that they can't
> recover, it's that you've made them think about something that should
> not require thinking.
>
> It's also a much more serious problem for people using some kinds of
> alternate browsers, who may have much more difficulty navigating back
> to their site. In the same window, it's a simple, well-known action:
> BACK (or the equivalent key or voice command). In a new window, they
> have to switch to concentrating on navigation in order to figure out
> where the old window is, or what it's called, and how to get back to
> it.
>
> I've never understood why sites are so self-important that they must
> treat other sites as foreign bodies. If you don't want me to follow a
> link, why did you put it there? Why are you making people learn your
> particular convention for "this link does something unexpected"?
>
> I've even seen this behavior between different sections of corporate
> intranets, as though the XXX Department is in a completely different
> world. I watched while one user opened no less than 12 windows while
> trying to complete a single, relatively straight-forward task, but one
> which meant he needed to gather information from several sources.
>
> This is not to say that there is never a reason to open a new window,
> but not for simply linking to a new page.
>
>
>
> --
> Whitney Quesenbery
> www.wqusability.com
>
> Storytelling for User Experience Design
> www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storytelling
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss@...
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
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[Terry Fitzgerald]

I have encountered that condition where you left one site on activating a
link. My question is, since one presumes that the web was designed to
attract, capture, and retain the viewer's interest why would you allow them
to leave - they might not come back for any number of reasons. If you open a
new window, you still have them.

Terry


On 7/9/08, Trevor Thompson <trevor.thompson@...> wrote:

>
> Hi folks,
>
> The conventional wisdom is that a link should not open a new window, even
> if it's a link to another site. Neilsen listed this as number 9 in the top
> 10 design mistakes.
>
> But an unofficial survey around our office found that most people prefer
> links to new sites to open up in new windows/tabs.  They said that new
> windows or tabs make it easier to explore links to other, possibly-
> irrelevant, but possibly-useful sites, and still come quickly back to the
> main site at any time, exactly where you left it. Some people said they
> *expect* sites to behave that way.
>
> Should the rule that links should always open in the same window be
> revisited? Does anyone know of any real study or data that relates to this?
>
> Trevor Thompson
> User Experience Architect
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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>

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