Open page in new browser window or not?

[Draeger]

Just wondered what the general concensus of opinion is on this?. In the past I've been putting sites together and having any clickable links which take you completely away from the initial site to another site open in a new browser window so that when the viewer was finished reading that they can simply click the new window and be dropped right back where they were on the original site. Guided slightly by the hand you could say in order for them to stay on your site.

However, recent thinking would have you believe that this is not the way to go and any links to pages on another site should not be opened in a new browser window. Some 'in the know' web guru's are stating that it is 'insulting to the web viewers intelligence' and 'Yes - I know how the internet works and I am quite capable of using the back button on my browser'.

Avoid spawning multiple browser windows if at all possible — taking the "Back" button away from users can make their experience so painful that it usually far outweighs whatever benefit you're trying to provide. One common theory in favor of spawning the second window is that it keeps users from leaving your site, but ironically it may have just the opposite effect by preventing them from returning when they want to.

Which is fine if you do actually know how the back button works but certainly from my experience many folk do simply click the close window button on their browser and then *BAM!!* your website is gone, as well as the site they have just been linked to from your's.

So what do you folks think?. Do you ever code so that new pages open in a new browser window?. How about if a link from your website will open and take you to a completely different website?. Or is it completely taboo to do this nowadays?. I understand target="_blank" previously returned a validation error in XHTML Strict but W3C has removed the deprecated status from the “_blank” value for the target attribute and it is fine in HTML5. However obviously there are ways around using this method if you so desire. That said, it's the 'use it or not?' issue I'm interested in hearing opinions on!!.

Ta.

 

[Pho]

I think the argument has always been that if the user wants to open it in a new window/tab their browser will let them, don't force them. It's also advocated against for accessibility reasons from what I remember.

Mind you, what I usually do is if a link has to be opened in a new window/tab I add "xxxxxx (link opens in a new window)" to the title attribute to make it clear.

 

[Shad]

I think the argument has always been that if the user wants to open it in a new window/tab their browser will let them, don't force them. It's also advocated against for accessibility reasons from what I remember.

I completely agree with this, but most marketing departments will not hear of it

 

[hawkhench]

Most marketing departments don't know what they're talking about though, they just skew what they think suits them and convince themselves that's what people want.

 

[Hyburnate]

I always make external links open in new tab.

 

[gord]

I always make external links open in new tab.

Only instance you can argue it, even then 'always' isn't my favourite approach.

If you want to send someone off site to do something then a new window/tab is preferable because the user may not be able to come back easily. If you're sending the user off to look at one or two pages then I don't think a new window is necessary. They can easily make it back to your site if they wish.

Internal links should never break the flow.

 

[Draeger]

Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it. I've got two links both to the HSE.gov website on the site I'm currently working on. I'll have them open in new windows.