Just now I received notice that a client wants to have every, and I mean every, link on their website to open in a new window.
This brilliant idea was seeded to their client by another developer who have positioned themselves as experts in creating websites that maximize SEO (search engine optimization). They claim that by opening links in new windows it will ensure that the user will stay on the clients website for the maximum duration.
My experience says these people are dumb as dirt and should pitch their snake oil schemes elsewhere, like deep below the Pacific Ocean — whereas I have come to understand deep-sea life forms are anxious to get discovered and will do anything to get noticed especially if it means fifteen seconds on Discovery HD.
In all the user testing I have done in the eleven years I've been in this business, opening links in new windows (the equivalent of pop-ups) do exactly jack squat to keep a user at a website any longer than without them. They do however leave the user confused (often times they don't see that a new window has opened and will try to click the back button to get back to the original website but can't because there is no history associated with the new window) and increasingly irritated.
And I also know this because I used to do it for Longboard links long, long ago (it was a hard time for me back then, I was hungry, desperate and I needed the money, or something like that but hey I never had sexual relations with that woman, I mean, I never advised a client to do it).
Boo, I say to these developers of SEO, If this is the kind of "expertise" you're shlepping then a pox on you and your house.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Word.
Pop-ups are annoying and I believe are pure clutter. I am also sick of web statistics and clients putting so much worth into those instead of good design, and relevant content.
Whatever happened to building things well and efficiantly. A pick off topic but this marketing "expert" is just part of the problem.
Mmmh... smell that? Design by committee!
Tell them that there is no target attribute in XHTML Strict, and you must rely on JavaScript.
Then show them the Firefox setting that makes such items open in the same window anyway.
Then tell them that every user study in the history of man has shown that links that open in new windows do nothing but irritate the user.
Then tell them that even though that may keep the user on their site longer (supposedly, even though it is buried beneath windows), the irritation may keep others from ever returning.
After you have done all that, realize that you have been talking to a brick wall and make the hard decision between losing a client and the oft cliche, "losing your soul."
You're just a button pusher for them, plain and simple. I empathize.
*puts hand on shoulder, obviously invading Greg's personal space*
There, there, Greg. Everything is all right. You're just having a bad dream about Web 1.0, that's all. Web 2.0 is here, don't worry.
*face turns into Satan*
Muahahahaha!
*Greg wakes up from the dream within the dream, screaming his head off*
AAAAAHHH!
Okay, end of story. Weird mood today.
Right now, SEO is a scourge for our industry.
I've had a handful of clients come back to me after I successfully created their site (with all of the Meta tags, keywords, etc. it needed) and asked me to SEO it with ridiculous things like make the HTML called "business-name-what-we-do-name-of-this-page.html" which requires lots of re-coding to both HTML/Flash, etc.
Such a scam.
Opening links in a new window is a sure sign that your client/manager/whoever doesn't have their ticket to the cluetrain. But if you HAVE to do it, I would suggest having JS do it automatically, like so:
outlinks = function() {
var all_links = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var i=0; i var link = all_links[i];
var dest = link.href;
link.title += " Opens in new window";
newtarget= "window.open('" + dest + "','','" + the new window attributes +"');this.removeAttribute ('href');";
link.onclick = new Function(newtarget);
}
}
}
Call the function onload, and I think that should do it. If you use the common x-browser event handling functions, you can get the whole sordid mess off the pages, and be able to kill it from one central place when they finally wise up.
I guess that's what happens when you take advice from people without a soul.
I would say most people (and by most people I mean me) block out anything that jumps out at them. As a good friend of mine said, 'Nothing smells worse then the stench of desperation", and that's what this is - desperation.
In any case, this creates a poor user experience (multiple window, can't use the back button… you get the idea) that will cause more people to leave and never come back.
I still can't believe someone recomended that.
Oh man, I HATE when clients have stupid ideas like that. Oh well, it's their funeral. =)
I agree. Target="_blank" was depreciated in XHTML 1.0 Strict for a reason. Tell these guys that 1990 called, and is wondering where they went.
I'm not a web designer, just a user, but I hate when things open in new windows too.
Links that open in a new window have their place. Like when I'm 8 pages into an ecommerce transaction and I need to click on a word to see it's definition in a pop-up gloassary.
But I'd like to see links that tell you what they're going to do. Maybe it's an underline style or tiny adjacent icon that gives you an indication that a link will open in the parent window, open in a new window, or open in a new tab. Or maybe all links should open in the parent by default, but you can use a key command for the other options.
Till then I'll keep cmd-clicking in Safari when I'm using something like Airbag's Longboard and cross my fingers when I don't know if it is me or the page that is in control.
I'm interested in this thread because on both major redesigns of coudal we tried to quit having the outbound Fresh Signals links open in new windows and both times were overwhelmed with complaints.
Jim, were there any particular reasons given for either option that stood out?
I think we have a lot of readers who are not up on the latest browser, etc and they like to blast through a day's list of links opening each in a window, checking, closing etc.
I browse, I'm sure like a lot of Airbaggians, popping links into new browser tabs, and that function works fine at coudal so you never even know our default link behavior.
Maybe it's because we post so many shorter links that ppl find it handy. They were certainly vocal about it.
My favorite nugget of SEO wisdom: "Oh, don't worry about your entire site being in Flash. We'll get your site indexed just fine with a comprehensive list of keywords in your meta tags."
Oh. Dear. God.
I think Jim Coudal's and Jason Metter's comments show that it's not cut and dry that opening links in new windows are a bad thing. I agree, if I'm forty-two clicks deep into a store checkout and I want to learn more about shipping costs, I pray, I mean PRAY, that they were smart enough to not screw up my transaction by bringing me to another page in the same window. A nice little pop-up with the necessary information is all I need.
Now, of course, we could argue that there are other ways to solve that same problem (javascript, yes), so...
Maybe it's because we post so many shorter links that ppl find it handy.
I wish I could make Longboard links open into a new tab or set of tabs.
They were certainly vocal about it.
Maybe your neighbor's user's angst is rubbing off on your readers?
Links that open in a new window have their place. Like when I'm 8 pages into an ecommerce transaction and I need to click on a word to see it's definition in a pop-up gloassary.
About the store pop-up happiness, I should have clarified that there are times when, yes, opening a new window is acceptable — these situations having to do with support or help information for an important process like commerce. Good point Jason and Ryan.
SEO is a pie in the sky pipe dream for lazy marketers. (imo)
Hey, I had a client try to push a flash intro page on me yesterday, even after we had a long talk at the beginning of the project, because a 'designer' recommended how 'useful they are a pitching a commercial before you get to the product'... suuure kid, keep telling yourself that so I can redesign all your clients in 6 months...
Everyone's a designer, just remind them you run the show for a reason, that's why you're an expert and they're not:)
Either way, that's the dumbest I've heard in a long time -- pop-ups were death years ago.
I dispise pop-up jungles
i've only today been told that an external SEO agency has recommended a series of improvements to one of our sites; namely that they want to place the whole thing inside a frameset that has every link on the site in one big sequential list and 500 words of 'meta info' inserted into the <noframes&rt; content...
i've decided the only way to deal with how outraged i feel is to know that at least there's a lot of people out there facing the same.
i agree, SEO is hella lame.
SEO isn't lame if you understand what it's for and about. I do most of the admin and back-end work for an e-commerce company that relies entirely on SEO and PPC ads for revenue - and it keeps 15 people employed.
There are PLENTY of bad, ignorant SEO people out there. If you are interested in SEO and hear someone say "It's all about the keywords" or mention meta tags excessively much, they're idiots and don't hire them.
Good, clean SEO is all about making quality semantic pages whose meaning is transparent to the search engines. Use your topical phrase (keywords) in appropriate places, like the page title, H1 tags, etc, and just construct a clean semantic page.
Then, go find related sites who find your QUALITY information worthwhile and get links.
SEO isn't a bad thing. EVERY web professional should know basic SEO strategies and techniques, or you are providing your customer a disservice. Like any other tool in your box, you can overuse or misuse it... kind of like flash entry tunnels or javascript rollovers.
New window links are definitely a vestigial organ of the past. I work for a 10 year old web design company and things like this are so ingrained. It's been an uphill battle trying to spread the very notion of web standards here. Don't even get me started on SEO. How many times have I had to explain why we don't use some lousy technique like this when the client gets a cold call from some other company?