Re: CSS3 Hyperlinks and the target attribute

I could be wrong, but I would say that this list probably isn't the best place 
to discuss something like that. What a browser does with an anchor tag is 
probably best discussed on an HTML-specific list (www-html@w3.org, is it?) or a 
UA-specific list like the various Mozilla discussion groups.

-Felipe Gasper
Urbana, IL

Quoth Sam Kearns on 3/2/2004 7:14 PM...

> 
> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I am completely new here so if your thinking maybe I "don't get it" on 
> some issue or another you may very well be correct and I gladly welcome 
> any corrections or clarifications you would like to add. This email is 
> just offered to promote some debate, I don't think I am the first or 
> last word on this issue. Also, to make things simpler, whenever I say 
> "window" in the text below I mean any window, tab or rendering surface.
> 
> I believe that the decision of wether to open a new window when a link 
> is clicked is entirely up to the user and/or their user agent. I don't 
> think the page author has any business at all making this decision.
> 
> It is my opinion that the target attribute of a link should never be 
> able to affect any window/tab other than the one in which it was 
> clicked. The only thing I would like to see the target attribute used 
> for is to control existing frames or iFrames within the same window.
> 
> I have never seen a page that either affected or opened another window 
> that wasn't guilty of at least one of the following.
>    a) Could be done better using DIVs or iLayers (like progress meters, 
> psuedo dialogue boxes, help info, etc.)
>    b) Made a decision that should rightfully only be made by the user 
> (opening a link to another site in a new window)
>    c) Tried to subvert and/or control the users browsing experience to 
> the detriment of the user. (pop-ups, pop-unders etc.)
> 
> To that end I would like to see the concept of opening new windows 
> through the target property removed from future CSS specifications.
> 
> Cheers,
> Sam
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

Received on Tuesday, 2 March 2004 20:27:39 UTC