I would tend to argue the opposite (though not entirely). Links to external sites opening in new windows are not a bad idea in certain circumstances such as when external material might end up inside a frame, as might happen inside a Learning Management System... it might be advisable at that point to have the link appear in a new window (or tab) so as not to confuse the user and make it clear that this is not your site's material.
Experienced browsers will know to use their shift or ctrl + click to force external links into new windows or tabs, or they may have already have it set up to do that in their browser options using a tab control extension, but novice users or those who just don't do so well with computers likely wouldn't know to do this and could get confused by external material showing up inside a frame, or being taken away from the website they were viewing. I personally prefer to have external links open in new tabs, sometimes even internal links if I want to finish reading the page but also want to view the contents of one or several links afterwards, and I frequently use ctrl + click when clicking on links. As an extra consideration, I just went to a copyright training seminar yesterday where this (external links inside frames) was discussed in terms of the danger of copyright infractions, and other nasties. I think forcing external links to open in new windows is not an entirely bad idea (depending on the circumstances and your users)... Jason On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 5:51 PM, Brad Pollard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks Nate for the links. > > I really want to focus on the usability impacts of pop-ups. > > I'd love to see the AGIMO research that was done - do you have the name of > someone within the organisation that I could contact with regards to > sourcing this? > > ~ brad > > Ward, Nathan wrote: > > Hi Brad, > I don't have any test data that shows this, however, below are a two > articles from Digital Web Magazine that mention the topic. > I'm also fairly sure that AGIMO has some research on the topic but I > couldn't find it this afternoon. > You could also check out the Vision Australia website ( > http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/). > > > http://www.digital-web.com/articles/accessible_by_design/ > Avoid using links that create a new browser window. If you do use them, > warn users. Users may not be aware of the shift in their system's focus. > It may disorient or confuse them. This is also a usability issue since > users can't use the Back button to navigate back and revisit pages. It's > easy to accidentally close the wrong window and lose what you want to > access. Add a text warning message or place a small icon (with a warning in > the ALT attribute) before links that will spawn a new window. > > Avoid "pop-up" windows, when possible. This has problems similar to > creating a new window, but also has JavaScript complications. Access to the > "pop-up" should be device independent. More importantly, make the content > in the "pop-up" accessible if JavaScript is turned off. > > > http://www.digital-web.com/articles/designer_user_partnership/ > The other area designers overstep is in controlling the user environment. > The Web behaves in ways that are predictable to users. For example, when a > user clicks a link, the browser requests the page from the Web server, the > Web server sends the page to the browser, and the Web browser renders the > page. Sometimes designers get involved in this transaction by moving the > cursor directly to the search input field or opening links in a new window. > We, as designers, use these methods because we want to be helpful. We assume > that most users will want to use the search feature on arrival; to make > things easier, we put the cursor in the search input field. We assume that > most users will want to keep in contact with our site while exploring other > sites; to make things easier, we open external links in a new window. > > But sometimes these helpful interventions wind up causing usability > problems because they violate expectations. People expect to begin listening > to or tabbing through a Web page from its beginning and will be disoriented > if the cursor focus is not at the top of the page. People expect to use the > "Back" button to retrace their navigation path and will not be able to > return to the originating site if it is not in the window history. While > these actions may be helpful to some, they will create usability problems > for others. Moving the cursor and opening a new window are functions of the > user environment and should be performed by the user. > Cheers, Nate > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] > *On Behalf Of *Brad Pollard > *Sent:* Wednesday, 18 June 2008 16:44 > *To:* wsg@webstandardsgroup.org > *Subject:* [WSG] User testing results to reinforce 'no popup' > recommendation > > A dear client is holding us over a barrel..... > > Does anyone have some user test data/video (that they are willing to share) > that shows that forcing a popup window for external links is a bad idea? > > ~ brad pollard > 02 9699 7145 > > **************************************************************** > > IMPORTANT > > The information transmitted is for the use of the intended recipient only > and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material. 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