

Hacker News Should Implement Target=”_blank” - InfinityX0
http://www.johnfdoherty.com/hackernews-implement-targetblank/

======
janerik
Please don't. target="_blank" is just anoying on websites.

If I want to open that site in a tab I just use Ctrl+click or middle-click.
That way I'm in control of where the link opens and not the site. Much better.

~~~
dohertyjf
I'd agree with you about internal links, but not external links. I'd argue
that anyone reading HN uses tabs anyways.

~~~
janerik
nope, not everyone. From time to time I just open links, ignoring the
cnversation here on HN.

By using target="_blank" the site owner removes an option for me (see a few
comments down, someone said the same thing).

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Zopieux
Oh God, this goes exactly against what we've been trying to exterminate for
the last 10 years.

target="_blank" is one of the worst thing of the old web. Frames may be the
first in this ranking. Surprisingly enough, the two are related: the 'target'
attribute primary goal is to manage frames.

As others said, as the whole web developer community says actually, one
shouldn't use such thing that forces the users to open a new tab. You should
give them the freedom of choosing whether they want to open this new tab,
because it's very easy for them to do so: middle-clicking or ctrl-clicking.

Please do some basic web searching; you'll find pretty soon that people have
been fighting against this attribute for too long to let a techy-oriented
website like HN implement this.

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leepowers
Bad idea. Reduces functionality. If I want to open a link in a new tab it's
just a CMD+click operation. AFAIK there's no way to open a "_blank" link in
the same tab/window. Instead of having two options for opening a link I'm
reduced to one.

~~~
inafield
I completely agree. Why should the admins limit the functionality when there
is an existing usage that is perfectly suited for this?

The scroll wheel in my mouse can be used as a middle click to open a new tab.
On some laptops with trackpads there are even gestures for middle click even
if there are no buttons.

~~~
dohertyjf
So keep internal links (to discussions, etc) as default and external links as
_blank.

Problem solved.

~~~
wam
No, problem exacerbated. You have 3 camps of people here. One camp expects to
only open new tabs when they choose to. Another wants (and sometimes expects)
links to open new tabs always. The third camp prefers to open new tabs for
"external" links and not for "internal" links, and would like to see this
behavior become a convention (expectation) as well.

Leaving aside the problem of what counts as an "external" link (is a link from
Gawker to Deadspin "external"? Depends on how the user perceives the
relationship between those sites), you're still just muddying up the web's UI
conventions. That's what "default" link behavior is: a UI convention.

Not knowing where a page is going to open on the screen is a huge problem for
users. Requiring them to learn why one kind of link replaces the content in
the tab they're currently looking at and another kind of link opens in a new
tab only makes it harder for them to "engage" with the websites they're trying
to use.

------
wam
"Well HackerNews, what say you? I dare you to increase your traffic and
engagement."

HackerNews [sic], I dare you to allow your users to choose how they want to
open new links, even if the mouse/keyboard mechanism for opening them in new
tabs isn't completely 100% intuitive to some subset of web users.

I dare you to ignore any so-called "SEO" who thinks he's discovered an
incredible "engagement" technique that's really just another tired way of
tricking people into staying on your website.

I dare you to consult the relevant RFCs and acknowledge that the behavior of
target="_blank" isn't news to anyone here.

I dare you to recognize that not every single thing on the internet has to
"optimized" to get more traffic, and that "engagement" isn't just about people
clicking on links.

I dare you to consider the possibility that we now have a situation where,
thanks to the SEO frenzy of the past few years, there is no "correct" default
behavior for links anymore, and it might be better to just let the user have
control over it via their browser preferences.

I dare you to tell the world which way you prefer to open links and why it is
better.

What say you? WHAT SAY YOU?

------
eevee
> But then I have to hit the Back button. Who hits the back button on the
> Internet anymore, especially techies like myself who live off of keyboard
> shortcuts? Why make me go from using my keyboard to using my mouse or
> trackpad just to go back? No one uses the Delete key to go back, let’s be
> honest.

I don't know what SEO-flavored koolaid you've been gargling, but FYI, the Back
button is _still_ the most-used part of browser UI, beating out even _the
address bar_: [https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/firefox-heatmap-
study-20...](https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/firefox-heatmap-
study-2012-results-are-in/)

I'd think "techies like yourself" would also know that there are also at least
four ways to open any link you want in a new tab: ctrl-click, middle-click,
context menu, or ctrl-enter while it has focus.

As for the Back button, I tend to have one hand on my mouse while browsing
anyway (so I can, you know, click links), and I usually go back by clicking
mouse4. That's the bottom of the pair of buttons on the left side of the
mouse, where my thumb goes. The top one, mouse5, even goes forward. I think
this is default behavior in every browser by now.

Opening in a new window by default is a crappy idea anyway, but it's
particularly bad on a news aggregator site line HN, because I almost certainly
want to read _more than one article_. Why would I click a link and alt-tab
back ad nauseum, when I can just scan down the front page and middle-click
anything that looks interesting, then browse through the collection of new
tabs at my leisure?

The only remotely compelling excuse for this behavior is that users may not
know how to open links in new tabs, but they absolutely understand Back, and
one would assume HN has a reasonably technical audience anyway. So that just
leaves us with: spawning new tabs forces me to look at the origin site at
least once more so I can _close_ it. Well, fuck your cheap tricks and fuck
your "engagement". I'll do my own window management, tyvm.

~~~
crymer11
Indeed. Moreover, if the Backspace key (Delete on Mac) doesn't cut it for you,
Alt + left arrow on Windows or ⌘-[ on Mac do the job just fine.

------
dionidium
No, they absolutely should not. I can already control whether a link opens in
a new tab/window. Please don't make a decision for me that is not the default.

------
Kiro
Very bad idea. Target="_blank" should never be used due to the simple fact
that it modifies the expected behaviour.

~~~
dohertyjf
Even in an aggregator site like HN?

~~~
AndrewDucker
Yes. The expected result, when I click on a link, is that said link opens in
situ.

------
danielsju6
No, it shouldn't. Learn to use your command key; it'll make the web a whole
new experience for you.

~~~
dohertyjf
Haha funny guy. I know all the tricks, I just hate having to use them on sites
like this.

~~~
danielsju6
I actually hover my hand over my command key while I'm browsing the web; it's
not a trick, so much as a tip, it's part of my default behavior on the web.

------
rartichoke
I normally only keep a few tabs open but HN is the only site where I middle
mouse click everything.

Since the links time out so fast you're kind of forced to go a few pages deep
in 1 shot while opening links that you want to read in a new tab then read
them when you can.

There's some weird satisfaction of not middle clicking the last link you plan
to read for now and depart from HN for that session.

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kennu
At the risk of sounding unhackerish, I actually want the UI to do the right
thing _by default_. So I support this. I thought differently 10 years ago
("let the user middle-click if they want"), but nowadays I believe in the 80%
rule. Make it simple for the default use case.

~~~
wam
What's the right thing?

[http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/19892/opening-
website-...](http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/19892/opening-website-
external-links-in-new-window-published-usability-tests)

------
mijnpc
Yes, please.

I hate to use keyboard shortcuts for opening links in new tabs. This SHOULD be
a default feature on a site like HN.

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paullth
nope.

~~~
dohertyjf
Lulz. Thanks for the helpful feedback.

------
nbertram
lol.

