Re: target attribute of anchor tags

scripsit Liam Quinn:
> 
> On Wed, 7 Aug 2002, Daniel Terry wrote:
> 
> >     When validating a page I was working on last night, I noticed
> > something a little odd.  My page (
> > http://www.cs.iupui.edu/~dsterry/n307/index.html ) validates fine on
> > HTML 4.01 - Strict except the TARGET attribute of any anchor tags I
> > used.  I realize it will validate under HTML 4.01 - Transitional with
> > the TARGET attributes there, but it seems odd to me that such a basic
> > thing does not conform to the standards.  Other than resorting to
> > JavaScript, there is no other way to insure that a link will open in a
> > new window as is often desirable for outside links without using a
> > TARGET="_blank" attribute.
> 
> As a user, I don't find that desirable at all.  If I wanted a new window,
> I'd open it myself.

Many users (myself and, apparently, Liam included) find such behaviour
to be obnoxious.  Don't force me to endlessly proliferate browser
windows -- I'm quite capable of right-clicking if that's what I want.

If you are in the United States, you also have Federal civil rights
legislation (the Americans with Disabilities Act) to consider.  Forcing
the opening of new browser windows is disorienting and confusing to
blind users relying on screen readers, Braille displays, and similar
adaptive technology.  Using such a technique unecessarily is illegally
discriminatory against people with disabilities.

-- 
Thanasis Kinias
Web Developer, Information Technology
Graduate Student, Department of History
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A.

Ash nazg durbatulūk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulūk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

Received on Thursday, 8 August 2002 09:45:57 UTC