Re: Why authors are using Transitional (and target="_blank")

On 13/02/2008, Thomas Broyer <t.broyer@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Is coining names that hard?
>

It can be, when you're working in a collaborative environment. I'll explain.

Suppose I want a link to open in a new window of its own (i.e. such that it
doesn't overwrite the contents of any existing windows). With
target="_blank", this is guaranteed and easy.

However, if I have to name the target, it's non-trivial to guarantee I'll
choose a name that hasn't already been used at a target for a link created
by a colleague.

If a colleague has already used that name, and the user has clicked on the
link created by my colleage and then clicked on the link created by me
(which uses the same target name), the content of the second linked resource
will overwrite the content of the first, which is not the desired effect.

It's a serious enough sticking point that in many cases where I wanted to
target new windows, I'd avoid writing pages to try to meet an HTML spec that
disallowed target="_blank".

(As an aside, why do I target new windows? Usually for the reasons given by
Marghanita: I like links away from my site to open in new, distinct windows.
As a user, this behaviour normally feels intuitive to me, and most of the
people I've spoken to about it feel the same way. At the very least, authors
ought to have a mechanism for implementing this behaviour easily when it *is
* desired.)

Best regards,

Sam