What to do with 750 external links?

[wheezer]

Hi to everyone. Getting lots of valuable advice and information here, and still finding my way around. I did not find any posts on this subject.

When I started my website 3 years ago I followed the advice of a pundit who said all external links should open in a new window, because it helps keeps visitors on your website. Otherwise, visitors would drift off the website, forget where they were, get lost, etc.

A few weeks ago I read (where? should have copied it) that opening a link in a new window is a basic design error, because it disables the backbutton, some viewers are confused by the new window or don't know how to close it (!), viewers may want to open a new window themselves, etc. I wish I had been aware of this advice 3 years ago.

Today, my website has about 750 external links, so before changing anything, I'd appreciate knowing what the current advice is on whether external links should open in a new window: aside from web design issues, do users generally prefer using the back button or dealing with a new window?

Thanks for reading,

Wheezer

[maartenvr]

Good question. I do think it is a good idea to let the user decide this. When I am surfing a website and click on a link, I would most likely make it open in a new window if I want to keep browsing the current website.
If you have a good website with valuable content, those visitors will most likely return if they want to. I don't suggest making your links open in a new window. But there probably are some cases where I would suggest to do this.

[Alan Perkins]

Welcome to the forums wheezer :hi:Originally posted by wheezer
A few weeks ago I read (where? should have copied it) that opening a link in a new window is a basic design error, because it disables the backbutton, some viewers are confused by the new window or don't know how to close it (!), viewers may want to open a new window themselves, etc.It's OK to open a new window in response to a positive action (i.e. a click).

Most of the problems with popups are with those that pop up automatically, e.g. those using the onLoad or onUnload handlers.

[scottiecl]

I think there is a context for opening a new window. If people are likely to only want to view that external link for a short time then return to your site, then a new window is OK. For instance, if you have a directory of sites where people may want to visit several.

For the most part, I would avoid forcing a new window to open with each external link. It does confuse people since most people know to use their "back" button to navigate. I am still surprised at the number of people who don't realize those little buttons at the bottom of the screen each represent a window that is open and that they can click on them to switch windows. Just in the past two weeks I have had to explain that several times- one person I was working with says when the bottom bar gets full, she just closes everything and starts over or gets up and leaves.

The popup/popunder thing has become so annoying that often people will close them before they see what it is- you could be causing that reaction for people who really want to visit the site but think they are getting an advertisement and kill it before it loads.

[solo]

Opening a new window can be problematic because some users may have software to prevent pop-ups; even the new Netscape 7 has an option to do that.

So, I provide 2 links: one that opens in the same window, and a second 'graphic' besides the link that, when clicked, opens the link in a new window.

The trick is to open all external sites in the same 'new' window. You can do that by specifying a window name by coding target=<name>,
where <name> can be any name you choose, e.g. newWin. This way, all external links are opened in this one single 'new' window.

Example (I used text instead of graphics here):

<a href="http://www.abc.com" target="newWin">ABC</a>

[Alan Perkins]

AFAIK, all software that prevents popups ONLY prevents automatic popups (e.g. those launched by an onLoad handler) - not popups launched in response to a click.

[maartenvr]

all software that prevents popups ONLY prevents automatic popups
Nope. Some of them also prevent opening links in a new window. I had installed one of my computers but had to disable it for that reason.

[Alan Perkins]

Thanks for the info. I wouldn't install anything that did that, but I guess some people might ... for a while. :D

Opening links in a new window is part of the HTML standard. To install something that disabled that feature would make your browser less compliant for no good reason.

There is a good reason to disable automated popups - 99% of them are unwanted. But I would guess that over 99% of SOLICITED popups (solicited via a click) are wanted.

[maartenvr]

Yeah I agree with that. Hopefully some day we will live in pop-up free cyberspace...:cool:

[wheezer]

With some help from Google, I was finally able to track down the article that said opening a link in a new window was a basic design mistake. Here is the extract from the article by Jakob Nielsen of useit.com dated May 30, 1999:


1. Breaking or Slowing Down the Back Button

The Back button is the lifeline of the Web user and the second-most used navigation feature (after following hypertext links). Users happily know that they can try anything on the Web and always be saved by a click or two on Back to return them to familiar territory.

Except, of course, for those sites that break Back by committing one of these design sins:

opening a new browser window (see mistake #2)

using an immediate redirect: every time the user clicks Back, the browser returns to a page that bounces the user forward to the undesired location

prevents caching such that the Back navigation requires a fresh trip to the server; all hypertext navigation should be sub-second and this goes double for backtracking

2. Opening New Browser Windows

Opening up new browser windows is like a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer's carpet. Don't pollute my screen with any more windows, thanks (particularly since current operating systems have miserable window management). If I want a new window, I will open it myself!

Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over the user's machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the Back button which is the normal way users return to previous sites. Users often don't notice that a new window has opened, especially if they are using a small monitor where the windows are maximized to fill up the screen. So a user who tries to return to the origin will be confused by a grayed out Back button.


Since I ended up finding all of Nielsen's "top 10 mistakes" lists,
here they are. Should be useful to everyone.

www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html Top 10 web design mistakes - May 1996

www.useit.com/alertbox/9706b.html Top 10 mistakes of web management - June 1997

www.useit.com/alertbox/990530.html The top 10 new mistakes of web design - May 1999

www.useit.com/alertbox/991003.html 10 good deeds in web design - Oct 1999

www.useit.com/alertbox/20020512.html Top 10 guidelines for homepage usability - May 2002

Re the references to pop-ups: you won't find any pop-ups (or advertising) at my website, and I don't think you can say that new window links and pop-ups are the same thing. As noted by Alan, pop-ups are unwanted -- viewers don't have any choice. With a new window link, viewers do have a choice. Most of us hate pop-ups because they are intrusive and irritating, and they are usually advertising.

When I can find the time to do it, I'm going to fix all 750 links so that they do not open in a new window. Well, sometime soon.

Thanks for your comments!