
Fixing the UX of hyperlinks - jaxondu
https://medium.com/@nashvail/fixing-the-ux-of-hyperlinks-7cb4e5a3fe17
======
onli
The problem description makes not clear to me why this is a problem. It
describes an existing solution, and there is an easier one: middle mouse
button click for new tab, normal mouse button for intab load. It is always a
horror when some websites try to be smart and fuck that up (looking at you,
kimono – you are great but this part of your UI is not).

Is there something special about those specific links as well that makes the
existing solution not work? If not, I doubt that indicators would help much –
the specific control we have already is better than the time-consuming task of
interpreting those.

~~~
mixmastamyk
True, but it doesn't work for the author because he's using a one button mac.

~~~
christianmann
I use BetterTouchTool, a program similar to AutoHotKey for Mac, to remap
three-finger-tap to middle-click in Safari and Chrome in order to allow this.

~~~
bryogenic
Or middleclick
([https://github.com/cl3m/MiddleClick](https://github.com/cl3m/MiddleClick))

~~~
meowface
BetterTouchTool is way more versatile and has tons of functionality.
BetterTouch is to vim as Middleclick is to Notepad, or perhaps cat.

~~~
provemewrong
Meh, the only thing I need is three finger tap to emulate middle click, better
touch tool seems like an overkill for that sole purpose.

~~~
meowface
I started using it for only one touch gesture to start with, too, until I
realized I could control almost any navigation with swipes and taps. Swipe
left and right to switch browser tabs, make a circle "refresh" motion to
refresh the page, 3-finger swipe down to close a tab...

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zeveb
You don't need a new UI: just disallow the ability of a site to open a link in
a new window or tab, and leave that ability in the hands of the user, where it
always belonged.

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endgame
How about people stop changing what links do, and let the user decide by via
right click or ctrl+click/cmd+click?

~~~
username223
Yep. "target=_blank" is one of those things that, like pop-ups and BLINK,
seemed like a good idea at the time, but proved too easy to abuse. If I want
to make your site more "sticky," I'll open links in new tabs by myself. This
should probably be blocked by default in most browsers.

~~~
gizmo686
I don't think <blink> every seemed like a good idea[0]. It was an undocumented
easter egg that was created so that Lynx could have some of the advanced text
formatting that was coming with the new graphical browsers.

[0]
[http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag](http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag)

~~~
username223
Thanks for the link -- great story! If only more web nuisances could be killed
off so easily.

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ldarby
This is a great idea, but where's the solution to those web pages that put
links in javascript that do stuff like window.open("url") that forces a new
window, or do_postback("url"), that prevents you choosing to open it in a new
tab? They can go die in a fire.

~~~
zeveb
> where's the solution to those web pages that put links in javascript that do
> stuff like window.open("url") that forces a new window, or
> do_postback("url")

I think a solution of hydrofluoric acid would be appropriate for them…

~~~
semi-extrinsic
Have you read the manual on treating hydrofluoric acid burns? Recommended if
you want to completely lose your appetite, especially the fingernails part.

[https://www.honeywell-hfacid.com/document/hf-medical-
book/?d...](https://www.honeywell-hfacid.com/document/hf-medical-
book/?download=1)

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Namrog84
What bothers me so greatly are these new web "apps" that are trying to behave
like a desktop app and have no ability to right click and open in new tab. I
can think of no use case where one shouldn't be allowed to do this. I have to
use some tools that are like this and even duplicTe tab causes me to navigate
thru 5 pages to get back where I was

~~~
smadge
Yup. The web is fundamentally about links. If application state is not driven
through hyperlinks, it doesn't belong on the web.

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eam
I rarely ever want to open something in a new window. I do however like
opening pages in new tabs so that I can finish doing what I'm doing on the
current page.

I'm a Mac user. If I want to absolutely open a new tab when clicking on a
hyperlink, I just hold down the command key and click on the link and ta-da it
opens in a new tab (there's an equivalent for this in windows). If I want to
open in a new window I just hold command + shift and click on the link.

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kevin_thibedeau
Almost as annoying as pages filled with static content that don't follow the
HTML design principles and fail to render properly with JS blocked.

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k__
Does anyone really open links with left-click if they still need the current
page?

I always middle-click.

It bothers me more that most web-sites don't indicate in- and outbound links.

Often I get a bunch of links on news pages, which just let me hop around on
their system, while the link text indicates that I get to a source of
information.

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gmurphy
We considered indicating this in Chrome, but the problem was reliability -
because JS can execute when you click, we actually can't tell you what will
happen next, and we don't like showing unreliable UI (extensions, however, are
great for this sort of thing).

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steve371
Personally, I use add-ons to force every link to open in a new tab. Because
when I click a link, it is more like reference/supplement reading, but I have
not finished to consume the original page.

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raymondgh
If a link is simply to reference material (wikipedia blue links / blogs that
reference earlier posts / etc), then I'd ideally like the new page to open in
a new column and either occlude or squish my content to the side. I don't want
to save those for later or leave what I'm doing; I want the contents of both,
now.

~~~
a3n
Right-click Open in new window would come close to the effect that you're
after, without installing an addon.

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thetmkay
I was just thinking about this problem today: lack of information as to
whether a link is an external link (different site), an internal link (same
site) or anchor link (same page).

I cmd+click everything and inevitably have four or five tabs of the same page.
It's probably the most minor of inconveniences but the serendipity compelled
me to comment.

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christofosho
It'd be near if instead, these symbols were shown (but not interacted with),
depending on your hover state on the link. So if you hover with control
pressed, the "new tab" icon would be displayed. Normal hover would display the
"current window" icon.

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millstone
Safari does this already. It shows "Open <URL> in a new tab" in the status bar
when clicking will open in a new tab, and same for windows. This text also
changes in response to modifier keys.

I'm surprised that Chrome doesn't do this!

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seagreen
Does anybody who keeps up with browser extensions know if there's a way to
disable any kind of ad-hoc link handling on Firefox? When I tab-click I'd like
to get a new window, always:)

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dcre
I don't think this is really a problem, but I upvoted because I like the
thought experiment. I love the icons. I would not want them in my browser.

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douche
Or, you just always use target="_blank". Problem solved. Almost never do I
want to load a real hyperlink in the same tab.

~~~
Nadya
Then the user can never click to open the link in the same tab, they have to
copy the link-> open a new tab -> go to the URL.

The UX problem seems to be browser-side and is there only by convention. The
_default_ should be "new tab" and "same tab" should be "hold control". This
should be a user-toggled option. It makes `_blank` unnecessary and gives all
control back to the user.

The next step is an issue with users: most people I meet who aren't tech-savvy
don't know how to open things into new tabs. Which is why `_blank` is used so
liberally.

It seems to me the defaults are wrong. More often than not, I want a new tab.
But there are still times I don't want a new tab.

I don't know of anyone who wants "new window" but I assume they must exist
somewhere. Probably in hell, where they belong. /tongue in cheek

~~~
douche
True, as soon as I wrote that I thought of the few counter-cases. But they are
all genuine navigation cases: clicking a link in Google search results,
clicking an actual nav link, etc. Most of the time, I don't want to actually
navigate, I want to open the referenced material like it is a foot/end note.

Far too often, I accidentally forget to ctrl-click on a link, and lose my
place in the original document. Especially for something like HN, which tends
to be long, and somewhat dynamic, so that items can reorder themselves or have
new items added into the DOM when reloaded.

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christianmann
This seems like a good candidate for a browser extension.

