RE: link in new window debate

User choice?  No choice - select View > Source and some new window will open, only choice is what program will be used.
Expected behaviors?  If user is informed - what unexpected behavior?  btw - View > Source does not tell user a new window will open.
Consistent deployment - old axiom, only thing constant is change.  Again, user is told new window will open, and it will consistently.

Dynamic sites, pop-up windows, killer diseases and many other things people don't like in life are here to stay.  It is unrealistic to say don't do that, rather we need a way to manage/live with it.

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
From: John Foliot - WATS.ca [mailto:foliot@wats.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 9:14 AM
To: Mattes, Kurt (Bank One); W3c-Wai-Ig
Subject: RE: link in new window debate



> Can someone please explain the difference between a link that
> announces it will open in a new browser window and notepad
> opening when I select View > Source.

User choice. Expected behaviours. Consistent deployment.

> If there is a difference,
> is it anything other than a user preference?

only insofar as there is a difference between "choice" and "preference", and
"need"

> I believe what causes most of this frustration is unexpected new
> windows.

Exactly the point.  However the debate rages over the need of certain users
(those with cognitive disability requirements) to have access to information
such as JS popup help files.  Sites which *require* opening new windows so
as to not lose visitors are pretty much antiquated now, even if there are
way too many of them still out there... along with site owners who don't
"get it" and still cling to the quaint notion that they shouldn't be
"inviting visitors to leave their site".  By my observation, most serious
developers have gone a long way past this dated point of view.  But
dinosaurs continue to roam our world...

JF
--
John Foliot  foliot@wats.ca
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca   1.866.932.4878 (North America)




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Received on Wednesday, 19 November 2003 09:32:07 UTC