When I was first learning to develop websites back in 1999 opening external links in a new window was an accepted technique. But that was 1999 and the 90’s were for the internet what the 80’s were for hair. Since then we have come a long way with web standards, usability, and accessibility. However, like mullets and pop-up bangs at Wal-Mart, the “links in new windows” argument refuses to die.

Today, Ann Smarty posted this blog at Search Engine Journal asking When (Not) To Use Target=”_Blank”. In all fairness Ann Smarty is totally awesome and really knows her stuff. In fact, she never actually endorses using target=”_blank” for external links, she was simply asking the question and opening the floor to debate on the issue. My reply simply was too long to make there comfortably.

So Should you open external links in a new window

No! The design decision to open external links in a new window is the wrong one for your users 99% of the time. There are a couple of key points to make on this, and I would welcome any thoughts anyone has on them.

User Reaction: Many users, myself included, have very strong negative reactions when a link opens a new window (or tab) without warning. I hate it and I’m not using that word lightly. I have never met or heard of anyone who has this same negative reaction when a link opens in the same window.

User Ability: Users have the ability to open a link in a new window or new tab as they desire already. This functionality has been built into every browser and is a normal function that users are already trained to do. Even better, many users can middle click the mouse and directly open links in a new window. There is no simple common browser function that will force a link to open in the same window if that is their preference (I could be wrong here). The key here is “user preference” not the website’s preference.

User Workflow: The internet has been around long enough that people have established a workflow for using it that works for them. Opening a new window or tab forces the user to change their workflow to accommodate the website owners’ narcissistic fear of losing page impressions. Making the choice to open a new window forces the user to locate a window/tab before they can continue with what they wanted to do. Nothing is gained for the user by this decision that the user can’t achieve on their own.

User Experience: Finally the last and most important argument against opening external links in new windows is that it breaks the established and expected norms for link behavior. This creates a negative experience for a large number of your users, while in turn enriching the experience for no one. There is simply no positive results from the decision to take the control away from your users and a great many negatives.

Exceptions and Best Practices

Like everything there are going to be exceptions to my position on opening new windows. In fact, Ann Smarty lists most of them in her post (just go read it already). I tend to prefer if .PDF files and other non-html files open a new window or tab. The key factor should be what will provide the most familiar and comfortable experience to the user and if at all possible defer to the users to make the decision for themselves.

For those times when you feel you absolutely must open a new window or tab it is best practices to make it very clear what you’re going to do. Just like you would announce that a link opens a .PDF so that those who would prefer to avoid them can do so, announcing when a new window will be opened is just common courtesy. Even users like myself who hate new windows will forgive the occasional one if it’s not a surprise.

My Response to Common Arguments

“I want to keep visitors on my site as long as possible to get more page views”. I have never understood this argument. Page views have no value, you might as well be raking up wompom points for all the good page views will do you. Why anyone would risk potentially running off a future customer or loyal reader just to artificially inflate a valueless stat is beyond me. Seriously take off the target=”_blank” from your site and email me. I’ll gladly set up a bot to give you as many page views as you want.

“I can’t vouch for the availability of external sites and don’t want visitors to follow a broken link.” This is from a comment on the post by Michael Martinez who is a search engine genius and because of that I actually stopped and considered the merits of the argument. After thinking on it I can see the merit if you’re linking to a lot of unreliable resources (why?). Hopefully though this isn’t an issue so often that this is necessary. If it is then I would strongly recommend taking a hard look at where you choose to link to.

“I don’t want interrupt the user from reading my content to check out my references.” I hear this argument most from websites that provide inline links inside of their articles and I can understand their position. No one wants to write 1000 words only to have readers jump ship and miss the last 700. The truth is that if the content isn’t compelling enough to make them want to come back, they weren’t staying anyhow.