On 8/8/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
Just because I'm controversial I'll disagree. Gmail, for example, always opens *every* external link in a new window. It works extremely well - you never have to worry about "losing your gmail window". It wouldn't be a bad thing if MediaWiki did similar - you're unlikely to really want to navigate away from Wikipedia, for instance, when you follow a link - most likely you'll read it then want to come back.
The user's browser can override any behaviour, but that's not to say that providing good default behaviour isn't necessary.
Gmail is a special case because it makes such heavy use of Ajax, which isn't typically stored in the browser history in case you want to go back. But as for the general rule, it would be true that providing good defaults is a must, except that browsers tend not to provide as effortless a way to stay in the same window as to open a new one.
For instance, in Firefox I can middle-click on a link to open it in a new tab, regardless of where it would normally go, but if I want to stay in the same window when clicking a target="_blank" I have to 1) realize that it will open a new window beforehand and 2) select "Open in this tab" from the context menu, which is only even possible due to an extension. It's annoying. The Web would be a better place if there were no default-target specifications: I know what I want to open in a new window, you don't.