I followed your useit link and the article was so good I wanted to share it via Linkedin and Twitter. I ended up having several windows opening, I had little idea what was going on and often didn't know why I had arrived where I had. Since then I've found 2 floating open windows and am still not sure what I achieved. It seems the opening of new windows is often arbitrary which adds to the confusion.
I have a client who has often complained that when he closes a window his browser shuts down. He assumes he has opened a new window when he hasn't. There is the contrary issue of dealing with learned behaviour derived from using websites adopting bad practices. How do we overcome this? On another note which may be completely unrelated (sorry). When using Wikipedia I have often come across a link which I hoped would elaborate on the topic at hand only to find myself in an entirely unrelated article. E.g. I may be looking at culture and find a link to 'America' and find myself in an article on geography. One advantage I can see in opening a new window (on a larger screen at least) is you can dismiss the page by closing that window rather than feeling you are being taken somewhere you don't want to go. Is this context sensitive? On 20 December 2011 02:09, Alex Mironov < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi > > I have been doing some research on expected behaviour of clicking on links > from within a website to other external websites. Much of my research > suggests that the recommended practice is to keep people within the same > window/tab except in some instances. This gives users maximum control as > they have the choice to left click on the link and open in a new tab/window. > > I have included a few links: > > > http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/01/should-links-open-in-new-windows/ > > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html > > I was wondering if anyone had any views/resources as to whether users > should remain in the same window or should be taken to a new window/tab > when they click on an external link? > > Regards > > Alex Mironov > > ******************************************************************* > List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm > Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm > Help: [email protected] > ******************************************************************* > > ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [email protected] *******************************************************************
