Why aren’t developers using target tags?

  • Resolved ColinABQ

    (@colinabq)


    15 years, 8 months ago

    This is really just an open letter to all www.ads-software.com developers, and developers of themes and plugins. Sort of a miniature rant, and a plea. I hope it isn’t too misplaced. (It is cross-posted in the themes forum as well.)

    Would it be so terribly hard to use the html target tag in your code? I’m getting tired of seeking out and modifying all of your links to external content to make them launch in new Windows or tabs. For the most part, external content should augment a site, not replace it in the current browser tab or Window. Examples are links to www.ads-software.com, the developer’s personal or professional site for credit and support, the PHP and MySQL sites, and so on. Those should all launch in new browser windows or tabs. The fact that they don’t is incredibly annoying.

    I must note that the WordPress package itself has always been fraught with this problem. The blogroll and meta links. The footer links. Virtually all of the links are coded without the target=”_whatever” tag, meaning that they all clobber the page being viewed. That’s both unfair and poor coding practice.

    I ask you, all of you, to consider this. If you’re linking to anything but the site or domain that is hosting the ‘blog, PLEASE use the target tag. In the dashboard pages, in the sidebar widgets, in the footers of your themes — everywhere.

    Thanks for your patience and consideration.
    Colin

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  • No! As a theme developer, I refuse to add ‘target’ to any of my theme’s links because:

    1. I normally use an XHTML Strict DOCTYPE and ‘target’ is not listed in the DTD.

    2. Even on the very odd occasion that I use an XHTML Transitional DOCTYPE, the ‘target’ attribute is still deprecated and, therefore, should not be used.

    3. Links that spawn new windows/tabs without clear visible warning cause massive problems for some user groups to the point of making the site unusable.

    4. Unwanted new window/tabs cause irritation amongst many other users. Hardly beneficial if you’re trying to develop a popular, sticky, site.

    5. What is the point of forcing upon users an action that they can choose to take (or not) via their own browser? Or are sites that continue this practice so dire in terms of content and functionality that they cannot risk letting a single user go? Good sites don’t adopt such paranoid practices as they know – usually from experience – that if you provide a good, effective, resource, users will return. Again and again. There’s no need to try and hold them hostage.

    Spawning new windows/tabs is incorrect, grossly unfair to some users and very poor coding practice.

    Thread Starter ColinABQ

    (@colinabq)

    Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

    I also appreciate, and accept, some of the many reasons for it being a bad idea, a lot of the time. I just think that there enough instances of when it is a good idea, within the typical WordPress site, that it should become standard practice in most cases. Again, I think the www.ads-software.com and theme/plugin developer links should be considered augmenting and supporting.

    I also acknowledge that it can be tough to figure when to do it, and when not to. The keys are, what content to consider augmenting, and somehow warning the user that new tabs or Windows will be used in those cases.

    My rant wasn’t about keeping visitors at my site – my content needs to do that. My rant was about users, and me, having those links clobber whatever I was viewing or working on, and then having a heck of a time getting back there when I’m done with the augmenting or supporting information that was linked to. The www.ads-software.com and developer links are not, “please come read my stuff, it is much cooler than this” links, they are, “if you need help or want to know more about this, here you go.” I hope we can all understand that difference, and why at least some such links should launch in new Windows or tabs. Think of them the same way you think of “help” or “change your settings” pop-ups that some sites use.

    Regardless, I’ve softened : ) We can all be right, to a degree.

    Again, thanks.

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