Opening Links in the Same Window
Many people have commented that, on my websites, none of my links open in a new window. The only exception is when a client, having heard my reasoning, still insists on opening links in a new window. I’ll do it for them, but it’s really not the best practice.
Those who argue for it will tell me that I am driving my potential customers away. Maybe, but if they leave that easily, they probably weren’t all that interested anyway. With modern browsers, someone interested in staying on my site can open the link in another tab, at their choosing. I do that all the time.
There is another school of thought on the subject. It has mainly to do with accessibility issues. While it may be obvious to you that a new window opened, it isn’t to everyone. Some people have their browsers maximized so that they can see it better. When you open a new window, they may not realize it. And so, when they try to go back using the Back button on their browser, the back button doesn’t work. Also, people with poor or no vision use readers such as JAWS to read web pages and are likely to miss the fact that an entirely new window has opened. Furthermore, they have lost the ability to use the Back button.
I’ve done a lot of research on this topic and have made the decision to make my websites accessible to as many people as possible. While I’m well aware that I could lose a visitor by not opening a new window for an external link, I’m also thinking of those who will encounter problems BECAUSE I opened a new window. So for my sites, I choose NOT to open a new window.
Most browsers make it easy to open a link in a new window, or as a tab. Someone who is truly interested in my site is likely to do this if they want to follow another link. I’m also likely to irritate a visitor by opening a new window.
If you’re interested, here are just a few places that talk about this issue:
Not opening new windows - from Dive Into Accessibility
Top 10 Mistakes of Web Design - Points 1 & 2
Strict HTML 4.01 doesn’t validate when you open links in a new window
