Accessible Pop-up Links
A List Apart — “For the purposes of this article, pop-up links are links that open in a new window, and that rely on JavaScript to do so. Ordinarily, all you need for a link to open on a new window is to set its “target” attribute to “_blank”. With pop-up links, JavaScript is used either because special window properties must be set, or because the DOCTYPE in place does not allow the “target” attribute.”
March 24th, 2004 at 5:31 pm
This may as well have been called “How to do a stupid thing right”.
It starts off with a completely unexamined statement: “Sometimes we have to use pop-ups — so we might as well do them right”. Why does anybody have to use pop-up windows? As a user I hate them, and do everything I can to ensure I never see them (I use the Multizilla extension in Mozilla).
The beauty of the web browser is that it is simple to use - you click on a link, and the new page replaces the old. Pop-ups (and frames) destroy that simplicity, and make links seem unpredictable and possibly confusing. It’s much better to put control into the hands of the user, and let them decide when they want something to open in a new window, instead of trying to second-guess them.