CSS3 Hyperlinks and the target attribute

Hi Everyone,

I am completely new here so if your thinking maybe I "don't get it" on 
some issue or another you may very well be correct and I gladly welcome 
any corrections or clarifications you would like to add. This email is 
just offered to promote some debate, I don't think I am the first or 
last word on this issue. Also, to make things simpler, whenever I say 
"window" in the text below I mean any window, tab or rendering surface.

I believe that the decision of wether to open a new window when a link 
is clicked is entirely up to the user and/or their user agent. I don't 
think the page author has any business at all making this decision.

It is my opinion that the target attribute of a link should never be 
able to affect any window/tab other than the one in which it was 
clicked. The only thing I would like to see the target attribute used 
for is to control existing frames or iFrames within the same window.

I have never seen a page that either affected or opened another window 
that wasn't guilty of at least one of the following.
    a) Could be done better using DIVs or iLayers (like progress meters, 
psuedo dialogue boxes, help info, etc.)
    b) Made a decision that should rightfully only be made by the user 
(opening a link to another site in a new window)
    c) Tried to subvert and/or control the users browsing experience to 
the detriment of the user. (pop-ups, pop-unders etc.)

To that end I would like to see the concept of opening new windows 
through the target property removed from future CSS specifications.

Cheers,
Sam

Received on Tuesday, 2 March 2004 20:14:55 UTC