Re: Browser defaults should please the mass of authors

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008, Lachlan Hunt wrote:
> 
> L. David Baron wrote:
> > On Monday 2008-04-21 11:13 +0300, Henri Sivonen wrote:
> > > I think this is a bad recommendation. Browser defaults should please the
> > > mass of *authors*. If this is in conflict with pleasing users, users
> > > should have to opt in by flipping a pref.
> > 
> > But users shouldn't have to become experts on which preferences to
> > modify in order to get the best experience on the Web.  We should
> > provide the best experience to new users as much as to experienced
> > ones; this helps keep the Web usable to the masses rather than just
> > experts.
> 
> The problem is that we have many years of experience telling us that authors
> will do whatever they can to force new windows upon users, using a variety of
> techniques ranging from target="_blank", to window.open() to Flash based hacks
> that bypass popup blockers in browsers.
> 
> In many cases, authors have resorted to these measures just to get around the
> validity of target="" in HTML 4.01 Strict (see the many scripts that either
> insert target="" into the DOM, or attach event listeners and use
> window.open()).  The reason for making _blank conforming was to help reverse
> this situation.
> 
> By making target="_blank" non-functional by default, you're taking away the
> least-user-hostile approach from authors and forcing them to use the other
> alternatives, which just makes a bad situation worse.

This isn't what the spec is suggesting. The text I added to the spec which 
is what Henri is referring to would, if implemented, block _all_ new 
author-requested windows, including those from window.open(). All the ways 
of opening new windows go through this same algorithm, it's the only part 
of the spec that creates a new window.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Monday, 21 April 2008 09:14:27 UTC