I don't know why this isn't allowed. There are some situations where you legally should not open a link in the same browser window. I work at a University that uses Blackboard as it's LMS. Blackboard utilises frames. If I don't put in 'target="blank"' when there's a link to another website, then that website will open up inside the Blackboard frame ...
And if you use HTML 4.01 transitional then there is no problem with that whatsoever. If you try to shoehorn future-driven standards into past practices you'll run into issues. Frames can be helpful, but they also mean - the page is not bookmarkable - the page is badly scanned in search engines (you'll end up on pages without the rest of the navigation as they are meant to be in a frameset) - the site is a lot tougher to navigate with assistive technology.
And in general, I'd much rather that a link that takes me away from a site opened in a new window. So I understand that it's not part of the original site, and can close that window to go back to the original window.
If you can see several windows or have several windows that makes sense, which is why you can shift-click those links and open them in a new window. Being a trackpointer and firefox user I am thoroughly annoyed by links opening new windows - I like tabs, as I can switch between them with crtl+tab (I know, I could set "open new windows in tabs")
And what's wrong with popups? No – I guess I shouldn't go there. But there are times when popups are really useful – like seeing a bigger version of a thumbnail graphic ... Just my opinion ... :)
What's wrong with lightbox? http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/ I know what is wrong with popups - they are unreliable, mean a new instance of the browser rather than taking resources for only one, they are insecure (until browsers always show the location bar - which MSIE will do in the 7th version you can simulate a popup appearing to be from the originating page while it isn't - and ask people for their credit card details) and they simply give me a 1999 feel. Generally: What is useful to you is not useful to everybody. You can easily offer these things when and after you tested if the user's browser can support it - or even better if the user wants it (a checkbox with "open links in new windows" for example). But assuming users can and want to deal with several windows is just arrogance. http://hesketh.com/publications/progressive_enhancement_paving_way_for_future.html ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
