Make external links open in new windows.
Migrated from UserVoice, originally had 7 votes.
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What does everyone else think about this? Some people have very strong reactions on this topic. I'm flexible, and technically it's easy to implement this.
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I think it should happen.
Update
I think it should happen because I feel that on answers, external links are usually meant to start separate threads of browsing. It's great to click a link, browse around for a bit, then close the tab and come back. I could click the back button, but if I've clicked around on the page, it can take many presses of the back button or a search through my history menu to get back to where I was. Most of the external links on answers are to support pages, instructions, etc. It's really nice to be able to read that in a separate tab, then come back. Yeah, I can come back to answers, and yeah, I can hold down command and/or shift, but we already have a problem with askers not coming back to accept their answers. Maybe something to keep askers on the site while they explore the answers to their question would lead to an improved accept rate.
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I'm counteracting the downvotes someone did too you. I hope we don't end up with too many trolls around.
@rab I don't necessarily think that playing God by counteracting the down vote is really a good thing. Down votes show that somebody dislikes the idea presented, which would be valid in this case if somebody doesn't like this idea. No need to prop up Sterling's rep, I'm sure it won't ruin his life to have a downvote.
So is that how you see the rep system for meta works? I've been interpreting it as + for a good statement, you don't have to agree with it, and - for a bad statement, not one you necessarily disagree with. + just has a positive feeling about it so if you + a bad statement that you simply agree with, but it's bad, as in bad support for it, maybe itself being offensive some how, but you just agree with it, it looks bad that it has +. And on the contrary, someone might have a really nice well written and supported suggestion, that gets -, making it look bad simply because someone disagrees.
Huh? Ralph
+ I think that from the "savvy" of many of the posters this would be helpful to them. Users can't/don't search, ask incomprehensible questions, and browseby post... They can use all the help we can give them.
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As a tech-savvy user, I want to stay in the same window when clicking on a link, and it annoys me when a link pops up an entirely new window, since I sort my tabs by topic.
On the other hand, it may be better to open a new window because the user can still have the page he/she was at before, instead of losing the page to an entirely new website.
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+ That's my thinking on this.
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I'm universally against custom window targets because of their unexpected and disruptive behavior.
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Every "A-grade" browser I know of provides a way to force a link to open in another tab or window, which means that everyone already has this feature if they want it. Usually you hold down some permutation of command, control, alt, or shift while clicking on a link to force it to open in a new window/tab focused or unfocused. What my browser doesn't let me do is force a link to open in the current window if the link target is specified as a new window. Consequently, I think we should keep the current behavior in the interest of respecting defaults and providing the greatest range of customizability.
If holding down a modifier while clicking a link is too cumbersome for you (and I'm not trying to be caustic, it's often too much for me), I'd suggest a user script (installed via Greasemonkey, Glimmer Blocker, etc.) that searches the page for links to external hosts and changes the target attribute to "_blank".
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Customization is good - but IMHO the savvy of may of the users seems on the low end.