Should Links Open in New Windows

Should links open in a new window? I think not!

Browser users are becoming more sophisiticated. The latest versions of most browsers have been developed to provide greater control over browser behaviour. The advent of tabbed browsing has revolutionised the way many users surf the web. Providing users with greater control over browser behaviour has significatly improved the user experience. Forcing links to open in new windows effectively takes that control out of users' hands. Many users become frustrated and irate when confronted by sites that effectively hi-jack the control of the browser.

I can already feel a number of site owner cringing. The old way of thinking was that if links from your website to external sites opened in the same window you would lose your visitors. That argument seemed to hold water, but the trouble is that if the content of a website is not compelling enough to hold the attention of the user or to motivate the user to return to the site, there is very little you will accomplish by making sure all subsequent navigation occurs in a new window. Additionally the browser's back button is one of the most frequently used navigation tools. If you open a link in a new window you effectively break the back button. It can be extremely confusing to users when they try to click back within the new window only to find the back button no longer works.

Users of the latest browsers now have control over whether or not to open links in new windows, new tabs, or within the same window. Those that use these controls to full effect are becoming increasingly frustrated with websites that fail to respect what they consider to be improvements in usability.

The World Wide Web Consortium have weighed in on the subject. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 released back in May 1999 states that "new windows can be very disorienting to users" and suggests that until browsers provide the capability of turning off spawned windows "do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user". Older websites generally used the link attribute target="_blank" to open a link in a new window. The use of the target attribute will no longer validate as standards compliant within HTML 4.0 strict and XHTML 1.0 strict websites.

There are rare circumstances in which it could be considered appropriate for links to open in new windows, for example links to PDFs. These should be the exception and not the rule. Remember to treat your visitors with respect. I have read some heated debates over whether or not links should open in new windows, but in general visitors do not want to lose control of the browser. Remember it's better to lose a visitor temporarily than to lose them permanently and if you hi-jack control of the browser that may be the end result.