Responses to: Is it okay to spawn a separate Web browser window?
... compiled by Anthony J. Masalonis, masalonis@cua.edu
This came in response to the discussion we presented in the December 1998 issue, "Is it okay to spawn a separate Web browser window?"
Just my .02;
I think this is, at heart, a browser interface design issue. Netscape and IE have given HTML designers the ability make an action (clicking a link) do very different things, with absolutely no feedback or clues to the user inherent. It would be very easy for them to include some form of hint (e.g., different cursor) that would let the user know that the link they're over will spawn a new window if they use it. A preference to disallow the spawning of windows automatically would be nice, but I probably ask for too much.
That said, I personally don't like it when a link does this; I use the 'open link in new window' feature copiously, and know when I want to do it. If a link does it on it's own, I'm distracted, and will probably lose it, as another mentioned.
On a side note, a REALLY cool power-user feature in browsers would be to have the 'open link in new window' feature do so BEHIND the current window. I'm forever opening links and switching back to the current window to continue browsing before I depart on the new subject, as it hasn't downloaded yet. It's a form of temporary bookmarking, in a way.
Mark Nottingham, Melbourne Australia
mnot@pobox.com
http://www.pobox.com/~mnot/
Your comments are encouraged on the automatic spawning of new windows, the underlying concerns it raises, or any other issue in Internet usage that is potentially controversial (or just plain interesting.) Submit opinion pieces, anything from a few sentences up to 750 words, to Tony Masalonis at either of the following addresses: masalonis@cua.edu or anthony.j.masalonis@bellatlantic.com
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Last update: March 14, 1999
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