Finally decided to stop trying to argue with only 140 characters? ;) http://twitter.com/rhjr/statuses/937492704
This is not published data. it's a sorry state of the business nature of the internet that many many good studies are done inside of companies that could be shared widely, aren't. You can decide for yourself if you trust this. In many many usability studies done at both major internet company X, plus smaller websites a distinct patterns was observed. If you open a new window automatically for a user in a new window or tab, it is the nature of the speed of the browser and the fact the new window opens right on top of the initial window that the user doesn't perceive what has happened. All they know is the back button has mysteriously stopped working. Considering it's the only control they really know how to use, this is upsetting to them. If you need to open a new window, you can use popup or lightbox technology to create a window that is visibly different and provides sufficiant feedback to the user so they know what is going on. Obviously these technologies can be misunderstood by the browser as ads, and blocked (lightbox less so). But they provide the correct feedback. If someone out there designs browsers, could you please provide decent feedback that a new window/tab is opened? It's obvious this debate is never going away, and many people want to open new windows for their users. Hope this helps. Trust me; the numbers are large and consistant accross contexts. a final thought. http://twitter.com/cwodtke/statuses/937587779 On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 12:50 AM, Nick Gassman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > On Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:34:06 -0700, Robert wrote: > > >I'm looking for actual, legitimate research on the usability of opening > >links in new windows. I've found several articles based entirely on > >assumptions ("users are likely to...", "some users may..."), but nothing > >from an actual usability study performed in the past couple of years since > >tabbed browsing has become prevalent in the major browsers. > >I know the answer is "it depends", because there are certainly going to be > >exceptions to whatever the general best practice may be, but any actual > data > >from usability research would be better than the articles I've found. > > Robert, I can talk from the perspective of research that we've done, > but I can't provide you with reports. > > One type of new window that we know is OK is the informational popup > that is user-initiated. If there's some unavoidable jargon or other > content that needs explanation, we may explain it in a 'what's this?' > popup. > > We do know from what people have told us that new windows opening > unexpectedly annoys many people and can be confusing. > > The principle that we (usually) follow is that links to external sites > open in a new window, as this maintains the context of our site. This > turns out to be sufficiently good reason to overcome the > unexpectedness problem. > > I don't think we've tested opening new windows on the same site, and > this is where we make assumptions in line with your reading, that it's > not (usually) a good idea. It doesn't mean it's never a good idea > though. > > * Nick Gassman - Usability and Standards Manager - http://ba.com * > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
