HN Explorer

Ask HN: Should HN links have a target="_blank"?

3 points by carlos ↗ HN
opening to a new browser window when clicking a link to an external site?

7 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 27.9 ms ] thread
bradleyjoyce
I would definitely prefer it if they did... I often visit the linked article and end up clicking around a bit on the site, which prevents a 1-click back button to return to HN to comment on the link here.
knurr
Yes, just in case I break my mouse-wheel, right mouse button and control key all on the same day.
madhouse
No. If I want to open in a new window/tab, I'll use the appropriate modifier.
mhd
I generally dislike those kind of links. Unless you watch your status bar (given that it's turned on and your browser supports this feature), you don't know what's going to happen. Whereas if you manually option-click/middle-click, you've got a behavior that you can count on (also, quite often you want open in background anyway).