Re: link in new window debate (was "Special message to website cr eators")

A point to consider from a usability perspective:

What about opening a help window?

It is certainly much easier, assistive tech user or not,  to have a help 
window open alongside a Web site tool, for instance, that describes how 
to use that tool, than it is to navigate between tool and help in the 
same window.

New windows in some cases are a good thing, for accessibility and 
usability.

greg

Juan Ulloa wrote:

>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 12:06:38 UTC