Do You Force External Links to Open in a New Window?
How Do You Handle External Links?
Do you force your external links to open in a new window? When I started on the web 2 years ago, the standard approach was to open all internal links in the same window. However, if a reader was going to follow an external link, you didn’t want them to “escape”, so you opened all outgoing links in a new window, by adding target =”_blank” at the end of the link URL. This meant that they pretty much had to come back to your site after visiting the external site.
I thought it was a clever way of providing value but not losing the reader. Things have changed.
Web 2.0 and Web Accessibility Standards
Apparently with the advent of Web 2.0, opening links in a new window is “so last year”. 
Lorelle Van Fossen has a great list of Things I Want Gone From the Web in 2007… and Forever. I was shocked to learn that forcing external links to open in a new window is an antiquated practice. Not only that, but it violates web accessibility standards.
From Lorelle Van Fossen
“Do not use target=”_blank” in your links to force open new windows or tabs from your links on your blog. They are not user-friendly and violate web and accessibility standards. Let the individual control their browsing experience. Everyone has learned to use the Back button, so stop forcing new windows to open from your links.”
Grow Your Writing Business Links Now Open in the Same Window
Since reading Lorelle’s post some time ago, all my links, both internal and external, now open in the same window. I’ve started changing external llnks from old posts too, but this may be a long term project.
Web 2.0 Means User Friendly
Lorelle’s advice makes perfect sense. Web 2.0 is about making accessing information seamless for the reader. We aim to provide value for the reader. A user friendly and user oriented blog experience is inherent in this. Especially with blogs, where we encourage interactivity, conversation and a community, we want to make it easy for readers to comment and to move between blogs.
It seems not everyone is in agreement with the “new wave”. Some bloggers prefer to maintain the status quo to keep readers on their site. I can understand the thinking. However, my philosophy is that if you provide consistently useful content and develop your site as an authority source over time, readers will come back anyway.
In fact, they may seek you out, rather than being forced to stay. This makes for a more loyal and committed reader than someone who is trying to find the escape hatch to exit your site. In the blogging community, it’s akin to not letting the guest leave the party when they’re ready to go. What are your thoughts - either as a reader or as a blogger?
What Do You Want Gone from the Web in 2007?
Are there other “old” web practices we may be inadvertently using, or oversights we need to address? Check out Lorelle’s list. I guess one reference point when looking at your blog, is asking “Is this here for me or for for the reader?” Features that may be intended to add to the reader experience but don’t hit the mark for me personally are -
- music or an audio message or greeting as soon as you open a site (annoying at best and not cool when you wake the rest of the family when doing some late night surfing).
- too much bling, too many buttons, too much clutter
However, when I look at Lorelle’s list, I also see practices and oversights I’m guilty of and need to address. This is a great checklist for a blog “audit” and for looking at your blog from your readers’ perspective.
Excellent point about whether or not the things you use on your blog are for “you” or your reader. Wonderful!
Opening links in forced windows have been out since about 1999 as being non-compliant for web standards of accessibility.
Now, if we could get rid of the clutter and sound effects - oh, and the damn BLINKING and flashing things - oh, that would be deloverly.
Thanks for spreading the word.
Hi Lorelle
Thanks for the inspiration for my post and for taking the time to stop by and comment. Since 1999? Yikes! I’m even more behind the times than I thought. But at least I know now. Oh yes… I forgot to include “blinking and flashing things” on my list too. Thanks again.
Disabling right click. I can’t stand it. ESPECIALLY if you are hosting a carnival.
That is extremely annoying.
Agree on the sound, and am beginning to be mildly annoyed by sites that force me to click on their welcome message before getting to their site. But I happen to like the couple people I know who do that very much, so it is unlikely they will hear about it from me. : )
Yvonne,
I have tagged you for the “Eight Random Facts Meme.” Details may be found at my blog. Looking forward to learning more about you!
Jeanne
I personally like when a new page opens upon clicking a link. Yes, everyone uses the Back button, but what if you get caught up in clinking link after link and then have to use the Back button nearly a dozen times to get back. You won´t usually bother. I have lost a lot of information this way. People are lazy and aren´t likely to go back to your page unless you have really, really compelling material and even then . . . so, as a matter of personal preference, I have been making my links open in a new page. I may have to do a poll of my readers, though.
I’ve gone back and forth on this, but as of now, I’m opening external links in a new window.
There was a great discussion of this on at Problogger recently, and it seems the opinions were about equally divided, perhaps a little more in favor of new windows than not. The interesting pattern I saw in the 100+ comments was that techies don’t like new windows, but less experienced Internet users do like them because they tend to get lost using the back button.
Sometimes I click from site to site to site, then close the window and forget how to get back where I started. And I consider myself fairly computer-literate and Internet savvy. I prefer to go to a new window and have it easy to return to the site I started on. I guess we all tend to consider our own preferences and expect everyone to think and behave like we do.
It will be interesting to see what other readers think.
I absolutely agree that our blogs should be designed for the user and not for us. I’m just not convinced that the majority of my readers prefer links opening in the same window. I’ll be watching closely to see what your readers say. For tech blogs, probably the same window is the best choice, because the readers of those blogs are savvy enough to know how to open links in a new window if they prefer and are less apt to get lost when they’re browsing. But for the average blog reader … I’m not sure.
Some of my links open up in new windows and others don’t. At this point I don’t think it really matters since the browser is going to control their experience no matter what you do with those links.
I think the thing that really needs to come to the forefront are “pop-ups” (I HATE them!) and your URL being TRAPPED literally on somebody else’s site. (You know the sites where no matter what you click on it always stays on their “dot” com?) I will not do link exchanges with those sites in any way shape or form.
As for going back through and making changes to your clickable links - I wouldn’t bother because it’s kinda like the “expert” opinions - some say eggs are good for you and others say that eggs are bad for you.
If you concentrate on quality content you can’t go wrong and it won’t really matter. At least not to the non-webmaster web lurker.
Following fashion is something I do not do. To _blank or not to _blank, that is a question for yourself. How do you want your readers to experience your web site? You orchestrate their experience. Don’t rely on crutches like “web 2.0″ and make excuses for not thinking it through for yourself. Where is is needed, reference links open to new windows. Why? Because the reader still needs to read the rest of your story, AND he needs to read the link too. The web is not linear. To force readers to be doing either this or that, ONLY, is not only so “yesterday”, it does not make sense. hmmm… i feel a blog post coming…
Dana, Calvin, Jeanne, Genesis, Lillie, Angela & Calvin
There is some interesting discussion here, and it appears there is no one answer. I think Lillie makes a good point that not all readers are tech savvy enough to find their way back, and so may prefer the new windows. I hadn’t thought of that aspect. She makes a further point, that we tend to make these decisions or have perspectives influenced by our own preferences for navigating the web.
Angela, Dana, Genesis, Calvin & others have also indicated that it is not black and white. Thanks for your say on other annoying aspects of blogs and websites.
It made sense to me, not because it was fashion or Web 2.0, but I thought it was a smoother more seamless transition for the reader, which I prefer myself - which reinforces what Lillie is saying.
I think given the discussion here, a valid point has been raised - that perhaps there is scope for using both. That’s another option I hadn’t considered. But in the end, as Calvin says, “it is a question for yourself”, so each blogger can make their own decision…. ah back to the drawing board to think some more. ;). I suspect it will always be a divided issue, as the reader and blogger preferences or viewpoint will not always coincide.
You’ll note that Lorelle Van Fossen says that forcing links to open in a new window has been non compliant with web accessibility standards since 1999. Does that impact on anyone’s decision at all?
Calvin - I enjoyed your phrase - “to _blank or not to _blank” - LOL.
Thanks everyone for adding to an interesting discussion. Any further thoughts on this or other aspects you’d like to see gone from websites and blogs?
Well, first, I didn’t know there was a standard for accessibility.
Second, I open my stuff in new windows because IE would require right clicking and then opening in a new window and I hated the extra step. With Firefox and tabs, it was a lot easier to open in a new window because the link would open in a new tab.
Hmmm…I think a good poll is in order. It doesn’t really matter to me which way it goes, so I’ll ask because it’s a reading thing.
Thanks for pointing this out.
Yvonne,
And now…to comment on your actual post (Last night, I had my work cut out for me–notifying all the bloggers I’d tagged for the “Eight Random Facts Meme”–so had a one-track mind in my comment):
At Writer’s Notes, I have no choice but to have external links open in a new window, because that’s the Orble default, which I’m unable to change. Though I have “my own” domain, Orble actually owns it since they have purchased my domain name and paid my web hosting fee for me. (Prior to that, my blog was at Orble.Com.)
Because Orble owns my domain, I don’t have access to alter the source code for my blog in any way. If I did, it wouldn’t bother me at all to allow my readers to leave Writer’s Notes when they follow external links I’ve posted. I figure that, if they like my blog, they’ll be back. And it’s easy enough for them return after clicking a link if they want to, because all they need to do is click the “Back” arrow a time or two to get back to my blog. I don’t feel that I need to try to force people to remain there.
What I’d like to see gone from websites and/or blogs is the practice, that many engage in, of deactivating the “Back” arrow function so that, when the reader clicks the “Back” arrow, he or she does not leave the page, but instead, the page simply reloads (and does so repeatedly, if the “Back” arrow is repeatedly clicked). I find this very annoying, and it definitely lowers my opinion of the blogger or website owner who does it, making me far less likely to return to the site in the future. It’s such a blatant ploy to keep the reader from leaving the site and plainly demonstrates a total disregard for the reader’s right to freedom of movement on the Web.
Sorry to go on like that about it, but it’s definitely a pet peeve of mine! (When it first happened to me, I didn’t even realize that the problem could be corrected by clicking the small “Down” arrow directly beneath the “Back” arrow to access a list of all my recently visited sites, and then clicking the one I want to revisit. I’m so glad my teenage son informed me of that fact!)
Jeanne
Jeanne I agree with you! I definitely hate it when a blogger uses that technique. I want to be able to use back button. That’s what it’s there for.
Jeanne & Laura - It’s no fun being “trapped” on a site. Thanks for your insights & Jeanne - thanks for the tip about how to overcome the “no” back button issue. I can really use that!
Interesting discussion! Calvin’s comment about opening reference external links in a new window makes a good point.
I said in my original comment that I open external links in a new window. Let me clarify that I’m talking about links within a post. I think the reader should be able to click that link and read the referenced item, then easily return to the post they were reading. I do NOT open external links on my blogroll and links in my sidebar in a new window. People aren’t in the middle of reading something when they click on one of those links - they’re probably to leave the site already.
Great distinction, Lillie–and very considerate of you to handle external links in that manner! It’s quite apparent that you have your readers’ best interests at heart!
Jeanne
_blank usually used because the websites owner are afraid of people leaving the site without thinking of turning back. Most of the site owners are not someone who loves to write original contents and most of them lack of soul in writing (I once that type)
- Abdul Rahman (John Doe)
Jul 20th, 2007 at 10:42 am
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