I was telling a web designer to make an external link open in a new window today to stop the customer leaving the website and we ended up having quite a lengthy discussion about it. I hadn't really thought about the fact that having too many windows open can confuse people and that there are valid arguments for not doing it, so it was quite interesting. I am interested to hear people's opinions about this.

For a news/article based website, I always have them open in a new window. That seems to be pretty common with similar websites to mine as well.

When I'm the one doing the browing, I prefer them opening in a new window also. I have a shocking memory and if it doesn't open in a new window, I may forget to go back to the website where the link was!

Interesting. Those of us "in the know" realise when a new window has been opened and know to go back to the original one. Most of my clients don't understand. They either ignore the new window if it's opened at a smaller size, or don't realise there is a new window if it has opened full size. Then they get confused because they can't click the back button and doubly confused when they try to shut down the computer because they think they've closed their web browser only to find it is still open.

Having said that, I prefer to use a new window with my sites because it gives a sporting chance that those who do understand will return to your site.

Just to add, with newer versions of IE, and for those who use Firefox, I think opening a link in a new window (when it's actually a new tab) actually works well too.

I voted "yes" because it's my personal preference to have the new window so, like Phil, I don't lose track of what I was doing in the first place. I also tend to want this on our sites so the visitor doesn't leave and forget s/he was ever there in the first place.

That said, I've read a lot of stuff to suggest that it's not best practice to do it that way. Interesting insights, though, about people getting confused by it. Apparently a lot of people do navigate by using the back button.

All I can say is "it depends". I think carefully about each link and how I want it to work. I tend to use "new window" links rather sparingly.

No. Never try to control the viewers browsing habits.

Let the person decide for themselves whether to open a lik into a new window...

Surely by doing that, you're assuming all your visitors know how to open a link in a new window, or will C&P a link into a new window?

Originally posted by Big Phil@Mar 3 2008, 10:23 AM
Surely by doing that, you're assuming all your visitors know how to open a link in a new window, or will C&P a link into a new window?

It would be just as easy for me to say "you're assuming that all visitors DON'T know how to open a new window".

If you want to make some research, go check out why the "target" attribute has been deprecated from html...

Originally posted by Loup Garou+Mar 3 2008, 12:33 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Loup Garou @ Mar 3 2008, 12:33 PM)</div>

It would be just as easy for me to say "you're assuming that all visitors DON'T know how to open a new window". [/b]

I'm not assuming that though. I did some research on it with a website a while back, and some people didn't know how to do it.