- From: Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@myrealbox.com>
- Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:36:56 +1200
On Apr 28, 2007, at 11:37 PM, Smylers wrote: > > Spartanicus writes: > ... >> Would perhaps a spec conformance requirement that browsers should >> offer users a config option to opt out of windows being opened via >> target values be an alternative? > ... > But _requiring_ user agents to offer opt-outs seems excessive, and > possibly beyond the jurisdiction of the spec. It seems likely that > user demand will lead mainstream web-browsers to offer options like > this anyway, > ... Actually they probably wouldn't, because it would break the Web in ways that weren't obviously the result of the option being set. And every option has some people who set it accidentally. For example, forms sporting those "By submitting this form you accept our __terms of service__ and __privacy policy__" links I mentioned earlier are quite often sent over HTTPS. These are not cached by mainstream browsers, because the browser vendors have caved to bank Webmasters who threatened to block them if they were too HTTP-compliant. So if such a browser was configured to open those links in the same window, it would necessarily forget everything you'd entered in the form, which would be annoying. > but if somebody wanted to produce a web browser that, say, was > so minimalist it didn't offer any user preferences at all, surely > that's up to the browser manufacturer? There are already many Internet kiosks that provide no user-visible options at all. But then, sometimes they don't offer multiple windows either. > ... > Surely whether target="_blank" or even target="help" is treated > different from target="top" can at best be a hint? Surely it isn't a > requirement of HTML that user-agents implement multiple content > windows? That may not be appropriate for some environments, perhaps: > ... Yeah, it limits the Web to those UAs for which multiple top-level browsing contexts make sense. Breaking the Web vs. limiting access to the Web, ugh. If _blank is allowed, I would prefer the specification to discourage authors from using _blank when another solution is practical (e.g. using a <details> element in the original page), and encourage UAs to indicate when a link will open in a different top-level browsing context (e.g. by double-underlining instead of single-underlining). -- Matthew Paul Thomas http://mpt.net.nz/
Received on Sunday, 29 April 2007 05:36:56 UTC