alternative to target="_blank"

Question

What is the best alternative to target="_blank"?

Here is the doctype and html declaration we use:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

@Jan: it's invalid as per XHTML strict (however, I see now, OP is actually using XHTML transitional). — BalusC, Dec 09 '10 at 16:28
@RoToRa the link is to a new site (subsidiary of our company)...whats the big deal with a new window? — tony noriega, Dec 09 '10 at 16:30
@tony: http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/new-browser-windows.shtml — RoToRa, Dec 09 '10 at 16:39
I really wish the target property was better supported... http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css3_pr_target.asp — Piper, May 12 '13 at 05:25

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 24 '11 at 21:13

3

It's just valid as per XHTML Transitional. You can keep using them. It's only invalid as per XHTML Strict.

Regardless, for the case that, you could workaround this with a little help of JavaScript. Replace all target="_blank" by rel="ext" (which is the defacto standard for external links) and run the following (jQuery) script on page load:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('a[rel=ext]').attr('target', '_blank');
});

edited Jun 24 '11 at 21:13

Scott Rippey

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answered Dec 09 '10 at 16:28

BalusC

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@RoToRa: For a barking (but not biting) w3 validator when using target attribute on XHTML Strict. – BalusC Dec 09 '10 at 16:31
@RoToRa: that's correct. I already found it out and updated the answer at the moment you posted the first comment :) See also the comment on the question. – BalusC Dec 09 '10 at 16:42

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 20 '13 at 10:47

Similar to the Answer given by BalusC but without the need to modify the html:

http://jsfiddle.net/vC39V/4/

(function () {
    "use strict";
    $(document).ready(function () {
        var LinkTest = {};
        // External Links
        LinkTest.externalLinks = function () {
            $('a[href^=http]').click(function () {
                window.open(this.href);
                return false;
            });
        }();

    });
})(jQuery);

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 09 '10 at 16:27

-1

Use JS to make the page open in a new window.

<a href="test.html" onclick="return ! window.open(this.href);">New Window Open</a>

answered Dec 09 '10 at 16:27

tHeSiD

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You will earn headache by selecting this as solution – Vladimir Starkov Aug 28 '12 at 09:23
@Kumar why are onclicks considered evil? – Piper May 12 '13 at 05:24
3

Because there you mix content with function. Say your customer wants all external links to open in a new window, then he/she changes her mind. Inline = go through all documents and edit ; external = comment a line of code. More details: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6941483/onclick-vs-event-handler – s.Daniel Dec 20 '13 at 10:32

alternative to target="_blank"

3 Answers3