Should clicking an external link open the page in a new browser tab? Thread poster: Orrin Cummins
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I guess this is a decision that all website managers have to make for themselves, but I'm curious what other people's preferences are.
On some places on ProZ, left-clicking a link to an external site opens that site in a new browser tab. One of the places this is true is the IP addresses under the "Visitors" tab in my profile.
But if I click an external link in the forums, or perhaps other places (I haven't done extensive testing), it opens in the existing browser tab. ... See more I guess this is a decision that all website managers have to make for themselves, but I'm curious what other people's preferences are.
On some places on ProZ, left-clicking a link to an external site opens that site in a new browser tab. One of the places this is true is the IP addresses under the "Visitors" tab in my profile.
But if I click an external link in the forums, or perhaps other places (I haven't done extensive testing), it opens in the existing browser tab. If I want to get back to the ProZ page with the external link, I must click the Back button on my browser.
This is all well and good, unless I clicked through a couple or even half a dozen links on the external site. If those opened in the same browser tab as well, then I must click back through multiple pages to finally arrive back at the Proz page that has the external link.
Worse yet, if some of those click-throughs on the external pages opened in the same tab, but then others opened in new tabs, it is easy to forget exactly which tab was the original ProZ page; in these cases, I often accidentally close the tab that contains the buried original ProZ page. This is annoying if I wanted to go back to it, although in Firefox I can access a menu list of recently closed tabs, so it isn't world-ending.
I'm wondering, though, if there is any reason why links to external sites don't always open into a new browser tab by default here on ProZ. Many sites have it set up to do this (internal links typically open within the same tab, for fairly obvious reasons).
Yes, I know that I can right-click a link to access a menu allowing me to open it in a new browser tab (I use this method a lot on Wikipedia for internal links). But this is an extra step that just seems a little unnecessary to me.
Thoughts?
[Edited at 2014-07-03 10:33 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michele Fauble 
United States
Local time: 20:10
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
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If you middle click (using the mouse wheel), links will open in a new tab. You can also set preferences to open all links in new tabs. (Firefox, not sure about other browsers.)
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Michele Fauble wrote:
If you middle click (using the mouse wheel), links will open in a new tab. You can also set preferences to open all links in new tabs. (Firefox, not sure about other browsers.)
I think CONTROL +leftclick does the same.
Orrin wrote:
This is all well and good, unless I clicked through a couple or even half a dozen links on the external site. If those opened in the same browser tab as well, then I must click back through multiple pages to finally arrive back at the Proz page that has the external link.
But if you RIGHTclick on the BACK button, you can skip back up to 10 pages at a time.
Orrin wrote:
Yes, I know that I can right-click a link to access a menu allowing me to open it in a new browser tab (I use this method a lot on Wikipedia for internal links). But this is an extra step that just seems a little unnecessary to me.
It's hardly an extra step, just a slightly different one.
But you probably know all this already
Ciao
C
| | | | Orrin Cummins
Japan
Local time: 12:10
Japanese to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Michele Fauble wrote:
You can also set preferences to open all links in new tabs. (Firefox, not sure about other browsers.)
But that will open all internal links in new browser tabs as well, which would quickly become unmanageable.
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Orrin Cummins
Japan
Local time: 12:10
Japanese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Good tricks, but: | Jul 4, 2014 |
Cilian O'Tuama wrote:
I think CONTROL +leftclick does the same.
This is an extra step requiring two hands. I cannot do this while eating a calzone.
But if you RIGHTclick on the BACK button, you can skip back up to 10 pages at a time.
Again, an extra step requiring selection from a menu.
It's hardly an extra step, just a slightly different one.
It's an extra step because it takes two clicks instead of one, as well as selection from a menu.
But you probably know all this already
I did know about these methods, but I appreciate you taking the time to write them. I often learn tricks like this that I didn't know from ProZ members.
I am really more curious than anything. Is there a logic behind the current ProZ setup? Or has it just always been like that and no one ever questioned it? I genuinely want to know, I'm not complaining (though it may come across that way). As the kind posters have already mentioned, there are ways around it that aren't entirely cumbersome. But if a change, however slight, could improve the site without really having any negative effects, it seems worthy of a dialogue.
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cab we have a "back to top" and a "home" buttons at the bottom of the page? Thanks!
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 05:10
French to English
I much prefer the link to open in a new tab, it's how all other sites I use seem to work these days. I like it because when I come to Proz, it's often just for a quick break in between jobs. If the link leads to a quick joke, fine, but if it turns out to be a high-brow article requiring my full attention, I might prefer to leave it for later. And of course, given that we're all intellectuals round here, the chances of the link leading to a high-brow article are that much higher than on more ligh... See more I much prefer the link to open in a new tab, it's how all other sites I use seem to work these days. I like it because when I come to Proz, it's often just for a quick break in between jobs. If the link leads to a quick joke, fine, but if it turns out to be a high-brow article requiring my full attention, I might prefer to leave it for later. And of course, given that we're all intellectuals round here, the chances of the link leading to a high-brow article are that much higher than on more light-hearted social media websites.
And of course sometimes the link takes a while to upload, in which case I might prefer to go and read another thread while it does so...
Back to top buttons at regular intervals too, not just at the bottom
And we asked for a Like button quite a while ago and nothing came of it, but I think those who wanted to Like would still like to Like ▲ Collapse
| | | | Oliver Walter
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:10
German to English
+ ...
Orrin Cummins wrote: Cilian O'Tuama wrote:I think CONTROL +leftclick does the same. This is an extra step requiring two hands. I cannot do this while eating a calzone.
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