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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31169 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
