My boyfriend is a graphic designer. He’s quite good, in fact. You can see glimmers of brilliance here and here. However, even with all that beautiful style, he and I disagree about a few things in his designs - especially when it comes to new windows.
I say that websites should generally not open links in new windows. He thinks it’s OK. I say that if I want a new window, I’ll open one myself; that it’s annoying when sites open new windows. He says that new windows keeps users on the site.
I don’t think this will be a hard argument to settle - there’s penty of pages that discuss web usability in general, and opening new windows in specific:
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox - Top 10 Web Design Mistakes
Beware of Opening Links in a New Window
Don’t Force New Windows on Users
The bottom line? You probably shouldn’t open a new window. If you do, warn the user - let them know in the status line that you’re about to open a new window. But do it with the understanding that:
- Opening a new window to another site does not generally keep users at your site. It will annoy intermediate and advanced users who know how to open new windows on their own, and it will confuse novice users.
- For novice users, new windows are disorienting, and they break the back button - the one simple thing that all users know how to use.
Settled? Ok, good.
Well done, well done. I guess I have some reprogramming to do.
Hey, if I published something like that about *my* boyfriend, I’d be in serious trouble. You should honor your other half and post a pic of the two of you! In fact, you should give him the run of your website, too, lest you be couch bound!