- From: Juan Ulloa <julloa@bcc.ctc.edu>
- Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 08:47:00 -0800
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
The opening in a new window debate keeps happening because people haven't made up their minds about the issue (this happens where I work at least). The concern is not just about accessibility but also about usability. The problem, I think, is that some people think that setting up outside links to open in a new window makes their site more usable. In my opinion, opening links onto new windows poses usability problems with the non-techie crowd. The folks who don't notice that a new window opened and that they can't hit the back button. If this confuses non-techie people who are sighted, I assume it would confuse non-techie individuals who are not sighted. So even though the answer to the open-in-new-window debate is simple for some of us, others are tempted to always add that target attribute to their links. Juan C. Ulloa * Website Specialist * Web Services * Bellevue Community College * julloa@bcc.ctc.edu * (425) 564-2487 * Mailstop: D261 > -----Original Message----- > From: Phill Jenkins [mailto:pjenkins@us.ibm.com] > Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 8:21 AM > To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org > Subject: re: "Special message to website creators" > > > > > > > Why do we keep having these debates about opening new windows? We don't > seem to be having debates about dialog boxes, or error message dialogs, or > the various other GUI windows that have been used for over a decade by > screen reader users. What problem are we trying to solve, the browser > problem, an authoring problem, or what? > > For example, if the author codes the link to open in a new window, and the > browser+AT doesn't inform the user (if she wants to be informed) then its > a > browser+AT problem. The default behavior of opening windows in Windows XP > (and a lot of other GUIs) is good example of user configurability. It's > not the authors/developers job to code around responsibilities of the > browser+AT. > > Regards, > Phill
Received on Tuesday, 18 November 2003 11:46:59 UTC