Hi All,
When designing a web application/web site, is there an accepted practice on when to open a link on a new window?
Currently, if the site being linked to is outside the domain (say Google.com), I am always launching it on a new window. If the page being linked is within the same domain, I open it on the current active window.
I've read somewhere the opening links on a new window explicitly is being frowned upon.
Thanks!
My opinion: best practice would be not opening links in a new window. Users can decide for themselves when they want to do that.
There is no specific "accepted practice", apart from the one you mentioned.
Opening new windows is frowned upon because it is bad usability, most users expect a link to open in the same window, or if they are advanced enough, know how to open in a new windows/tab themselves.
By opening a new window yourself, you are taking away choice and cluttering the desktop.
The only reason I can think of for this is if your site has a data entry component and these links can be clicked for the user to get reference material while they are filling in a form (i.e. you don't want them to have to leave the page to read some notes, as they'll lose whatever data they had entered up to that point).
It violates HTML standards and accessibility rules (the latter is a criminal offense in some jurisdiction!) to force opening a new window. The users are able and willing to make this choice themselves.