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27 May 2007
FEATURE REQUEST: Can it be made so that links open in new windows? Please?
So do you go around to every site you read and request that all the links open in new windows? It's a personal preference that you can change very easily without anyone else doing anything.
No, but it makes no sense to me that a site that's all about "hey, look at this, and then let's talk about it" is for some reason set *not* to open new windows by default. Couldn't there be a setting here where you can make links open in new windows?
Do you use tabs in Camino, interrobang? If not, then cmd-click will open links in a new window, and shift-cmd-click will open them in a new window behind the current one.
I know, and you can also just right-click and open links in a new window. I don't know why, but between this and Gmail moving my windows around (which I solved today) Metachat's non-new-windows-opening-as-a-default thing (like Metafilter, fer crying out loud) is one of the remaining major web-annoyances in my online life.
It's funny, I've always hated how Mefi makes them open in new windows. Since I discovered tabbed browsing, with Avant in old IE, and then firefox, I only ever "open(ed) in new tab" with the middle click.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention that some people (or at least one person) likes it the way it is.
I want windows to open on a new laptop. Please, taz? Please?
Now there's a feature I could use.
I hate things opening in new windows and use Tab Mix Plus with Firefox (heh, Firefox's spell check doesn't recognise Firefox) to avoid any instances where this happens.
I would like to tag on a rider to this pony request. When you click the "post" button, you are returned to the top of the page. I would like to be returned to the comment I just made, so I can confirm that I actually posted it without having to scroll all the way down again.
Whaddaya mean, that's just stupid?
I would also like a "recent comments" link in the footer, but I'm afraid to ask.
I'd like to tag on another rider. When you make a post, it sends you to a page that has a whole lot of useless stuff on it. I can't remember exactly what but I remember that it tells you the character count of your post was. Could we just skip all that and give a simple "your post is confirmed" kind of thing?
Wouldn't it be better to just take you to the post itself? That way, you can immediately spot the typo you missed, despite seven attempts at proof-reading and now it is there forever and you can never change it unless you are one of the chosen, of course ;-).
Okay, I'm afraid we need to call in the big guns. I tried a simple little javascript thing (you can see it on the left sidebar), but it isn't working as I hoped (and as I thought it had worked on some past sites I've done), and it needs to be reclicked each time you return to the main page, which is pretty much useless.
well... actually, that's not it. It's that it also opens comments in a new window, which I'm assuming you don't really want. But if that's how you like it, then maybe it does work.
I'm thinking it's better if it's only external links that are opened in a new window.
However, to save time - could someone tell me how I do the metafilter style "open in new window". There's nothing in the source code to suggest new links should be opened in new windows or tabs so I'm thinking I need javascript / css.
So this appears to be what I need....
- Javascript to traverse the DOM and add an ONClick to each link.
- Javascript Onclick code to open windows in new tabs or windows.
- A test of the hRef to see if it's an internal or external link.
Metafilter use a base target="_blank" line with an override on internal links but common consensus has it that this is a BAD thing to do.
Rather brilliantly, they also appear to have code to do my (1) above. Here it is
And I found this javascript/css thing, but it looks like it's set up for groups of links. I'm not sure how we could wrap all external links generated by users in posts and comments.