opening links in the same window or in a new (tab)

Question

It has always been best practice to open links in the same window. Should that still be the rule now that most common browsers use tabs? Personally i prefer closing a tab/window over hitting the backbutton. What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

Yes, it should be the same. A new tab is more or less a new window, it just happens to be held in the same parent container as the original tab.

Answer 2

I'm going to wear out my scroll wheel button by the amount of tabs I open. There's a great Firefox extension that allows you to close the current tab with a single keypress, and I've assigned to it, so it's very easy to close tabs quickly.

Answer 3

I think it is still in the realm of personal preference, but depending on what I am browsing I am finding more and more that I open links in new tabs. I do this a lot when I a reading a page with a lot of related links but I want to finish reading the main page first. That way when I am done I can go look at all those links rather than trying to go back using the back button.

Answer 4

I think consistency is the most important thing to keep in mind. Browsers are beginning to provide ways to open links in multiple tabs regardless of the web site's design decisions, so maintaining similar functionality as other websites is probably the biggest concern.

You really want your site's core features to behave like the other sites your users visit, so they feel comfortable and don't waste time trying to figure out the differences.

That said, there are times when you should open a new window/tab vs. opening a link in the current window/tab. For example, if the two pages (the current one, and the linked page) really need to be viewed simultaneously).

Answer 5

Are we discussing links that leave your site? Our company benefits provider has a web site for administering our flexible spending acct. It opens 3 separate windows from the time I login until I reach the page to submit a claim. I have never been a fan of opening a new tab/window when navigating within a site.

Thoughts?

Answer 6

If you prefer closing a tab/window over hitting the back button, then by all means, click links with your middle mouse button. But please don't force your surfing preferences on others. Tabs don't change this principle in the slightest.

Answer 7

Some browsers actually open a new window when asked to open a new window (gasp), even if they support tabs. I usually have two or three different browser windows open, each with a number of tabs, grouped by task. If some site unexpectedly forces a new window on me, I now have to re-integrate it as a tab into one of my open windows if I want to keep my task grouping. This is a major annoyance.

If I want to open something in a new tab, I can do so myself, thank you very much. Don't try to think for the user. The only time I can accept/expect a new window is when the original site needs to stay open, for example because I'm entering text into a form but need to open a "more info" window (see StackOverflow Answer Help button).

Answer 8

hi.. i have one link button in my page for redirecting to another page. I want to open new page in same page if i clicked mouse left button, need to open in new window if mouse right button is clicked. is it possible in ASP.NET (c#)?