Opening a link in a new browser window (the age-old target=”_blank” thing) is a bad idea. Why?
- It breaks the back button
- The user expects links to open in the same windows (unless you tell them)
- It will probably break some display devices (mobile phones, PDAs etc, although I haven’t found a study on this yet)
- Just because your website stays open in a window doesn’t mean the user will stay there. It’s like thinking you are popular because you follow the popular kids around, even when they don’t want you to.
So, in a nutshell, think Long and Hard before you invoke the dreaded _blank.