#255 Why links don't incorporate target=_blank?

[David Keene]

Maybe this is a n00bish question, but why don't the links
on slashdot include the "target=_blank" command to open
a new window for the links that are followed? It's pretty
annoying to have to navigate back to slashdot after
reading every story. I realize that it's easy enough to right
click the link and "open in new window" but you'd think
that slashdot would make it easier to remain on their site.

[Rob Malda]

Logged In: YES
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This is a browser side user preference, not a server side
user preference.

[Stefan Hudson]

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I disagree. Some links should open a new window,
particularly links for external pages. It is very inefficent to
have slash refresh a 500+ comment page after pressing back,
just because the user forgot to manually select "open in new
window" to check out a link in a comment. This is the default
behavior on most news sites. It could be a per-user
preference in the settings, but slash really should set an
appropriate default depending on the link type.

Another good place to open in a new window is in the "see
context" link in metamoderation. Forgetting to do this
manually results in the metamoderation list being reloaded,
and all metamoderations being reset to default, or even a
completely new list of moderation choices being loaded. This
has bit me a number of times, and it is a big reason I don't
metamoderate more often. It's a real drag to spend ~10
minutes on a thoughtful metamod list, then lose all your work
because you forgot to pop a window to check out the context
of that last comment.

Granted, the issue with caching on "Back" operations is
browser dependant, but the default behavior of IE causes the
pages to be reloaded on back if they're more than ~5 min old.