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DPChallenge Forums >> Web Site Suggestions >> Can we not have new windows open after clicking?
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Showing posts 1 - 22 of 22, (reverse)
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09/29/2006 01:39:11 PM · #1
I find it annoying that clicking a thumbnail opens a new window, esp. when I'm trying to show a few of my photos to friends on their computers. I use the word "promiscuous" to describe how DPC opens new windows.

I've set my Firefox to force anything trying to open a new window into a tab, but it's still obnoxious. After viewing a few photos I have a zillion tabs open.

Where I work, we've banned people from forcing new windows to open when they code Web pages because it confuses most people, as borne out by Web usability research.

Even here, it seems to happen only when you follow a thread post or a thumnbail from one pic's comment section to another.

If there's no willingness to change, can someone at least explain the theory behind it?

Thanks.
09/29/2006 01:43:01 PM · #2
It allows you to contiue reading the thread without interuption and still be able to open the image for viewing.

Lets you stay where you are while opening an image, enstead of having to continue to hit the back button and wait for the page to reload and you find your spot.

I find the tabs are great, cause I just go back through them and close them as I view. No worries here. I get to a certain number. I pause the first (main)tab and view the others and close. Than continue.

Simple enough for me. I also use that feature on Firefox
09/29/2006 01:44:51 PM · #3
Originally posted by littlegett:

It allows you to contiue reading the thread without interuption and still be able to open the image for viewing.

Yup. I like it that way. =)
09/29/2006 01:45:56 PM · #4
I'm with Christie and Littleget, I like it this way.

What usability studies are you referring to? With the proliferation of pop-ups I'm surprised that any recent study would show that people are confused by that.



Message edited by author 2006-09-29 13:49:40.
09/29/2006 01:49:59 PM · #5
Personally I prefer it to open a new window so I dont lose where I am and have to continually go to the back button. I like being able to open multiple photos from one thread without having to go back all the time. If it were a vote, I'd say leave it alone.

MattO
09/29/2006 01:56:28 PM · #6
Originally posted by christie3:

Originally posted by littlegett:

It allows you to contiue reading the thread without interuption and still be able to open the image for viewing.

Yup. I like it that way. =)


That's what the middle-button is for ... there's no reason that a new window/tab should be opened unless the person wants it to.

I suggest installing (I believe) the Tab Mix Plus extension which has an option to allow "Open links that open in a new window in Current tab" which should implement the correct userfriendly behaviour.
09/29/2006 02:15:20 PM · #7
Use firefox and middle click :)
09/29/2006 03:57:19 PM · #8
Well! There you have it. Complete unanimity to get rid of the new windows.

*snicker*

Okay, okay, I guess you people like it and you're used to it. That makes you experts in using your browser, which I'm still betting most people aren't. And it breaks the back button.

But I won't try to convince anyone further.

If you do want to read a little more, though, here are some references I found using Google. In my day job, I regularly have conversations where people continue to say it's a usability problem.
//juicystudio.com/article/new-window.php
//www.deyalexander.com.au/publications/new-windows.html
//www.usability.gov/pdfs/chapter2.pdf (see guideline 2:1 at the top).
//diveintoaccessibility.org/day_16_not_opening_new_windows.html
09/29/2006 08:00:14 PM · #9
Originally posted by levyj413:

And it breaks the back button.

What do you mean it breaks the back button?
I like the pop-up for any links inside of the forums, I used to shift+click before I knew a new window was default.
What I would like to see is the pop-up to be recycled for subsequent links, at least for DPC links as I use dual monitors and would like one browser to be the "viewer" and the other to contain the thread.
09/29/2006 08:14:22 PM · #10
the best thing i got out of this thread was the middle click info. i didn't read the info on firefox well enough i guess. i'll be using the middle click like crazy now.
09/29/2006 08:30:34 PM · #11
Originally posted by MattO:

Personally I prefer it to open a new window so I dont lose where I am and have to continually go to the back button. I like being able to open multiple photos from one thread without having to go back all the time. If it were a vote, I'd say leave it alone.

MattO


I'm with you... and it's habit for me to right click and select open in new tab, instead of just clicking a link...

Edit: I never knew about the middle click... time to pick up a new habit :-)

Message edited by author 2006-09-29 20:31:40.
09/29/2006 08:41:21 PM · #12
Are there really a lot of people who have middle mouse buttons? I don't on any of my computers.

I tend to agree with the OP but links in forums almost always open new windows and I always just assume that. But If i'm browsing on a website I don't expect a new window to open. If I want a new window, i'll shift click, or right click open in a new window or tab.
09/30/2006 01:20:20 AM · #13
Originally posted by rswank:

Originally posted by levyj413:

And it breaks the back button.

What do you mean it breaks the back button?


When a new window opens, you can't hit the back button to go back to the previous page; the back button is grayed out. Instead, you have to close the window. That's not intuitive for many people on the Web, and they can get confused pretty easily. I suspect it doesn't bother the people in this thread because they're probably much more tech savvy than the general population. The interesting question is what the majority of users at DPC like, not the majority of folks in this thread.

Firefox lets you set it up so that instead of a new window, it opens in a new tab. But anyone using Internet Explorer (still the vast majority of people on the Web, but maybe not on this site) is forced to open a bazillion windows when they follow thumbnails from threads or from within the comments section of one photo linking to another photo.
09/30/2006 01:38:15 AM · #14
Originally posted by nborton:

the best thing i got out of this thread was the middle click info. i didn't read the info on firefox well enough i guess. i'll be using the middle click like crazy now.


Its the best thing to happen to the internet since broadband connections. No Joke.
09/30/2006 01:39:13 AM · #15
i like new windows
09/30/2006 02:12:37 AM · #16
.

I use the new Internet Explorer 7.0 (RC 1). Complete with built-in tabs, tab groups, anti-phishing, pop-up blocker, and is stable as a rock.

And, oh yes, there is middle-click to open a link into a new tab. No extra software to install. By "middle click" I mean clicking (pressing down on) the scroll wheel. :D

Message edited by author 2006-09-30 02:13:25.
09/30/2006 02:28:49 AM · #17
Originally posted by levyj413:

Originally posted by rswank:

[quote=levyj413] And it breaks the back button.

What do you mean it breaks the back button?


When a new window opens, you can't hit the back button to go back to the previous page; the back button is grayed out. Instead, you have to close the window.

It's not "breaking" anything. Common sense tells me that if it's a new window, nothing has been in this window before so there's nothing to go back TO. Of course the back button won't work.

Middle click on my scroll wheel doesn't give an "open in new window" option.

I prefer it the way it is, for the reasons given. Why do we always have to dumb down for the few who get confused because they can't bother learning?

Message edited by author 2006-09-30 02:30:17.
09/30/2006 01:21:04 PM · #18
Originally posted by BeeCee:

It's not "breaking" anything. Common sense tells me that if it's a new window, nothing has been in this window before so there's nothing to go back TO. Of course the back button won't work.

I prefer it the way it is, for the reasons given. Why do we always have to dumb down for the few who get confused because they can't bother learning?


BeeCee, if you notice it's a new window, you're right. Many people don't notice it. And "breaking" is the word used over and over in usability discussions.

As for dumbing down, I don't think it's doing that. Rather, in my opinion, the site should be built to be most easily used by most people.

Half a dozen people have posted in this thread. DPC has thousands of users. Hence my post suggesting it's time for a new browser survey, and my point about what people typically use here. If DPC's membership is more tech savvy than the average person on the Web, that's fine.

Let me say, though, that now we're having an academic discussion; I stopped trying to push to stop opening new windows several posts ago.

Message edited by author 2006-09-30 13:23:03.
09/30/2006 01:34:18 PM · #19
The problem with opening links in new windows is that it (generally) provides an inconsistent interface to the user. A user generally expects a link to open in the same viewport as the current document, and by default, most web browsers don't indicate this difference.

I'll suggest this is a user agent problem, but only because it supports this "feature". I reiterate that the correct behaviour should be determined by the user, not the browser and the web designer who can only guess at what the user actually wants. (My previous post suggested a fix for this user interface problem for users of Mozilla/FireFox.)

Web sites can, of course, not perpetuate the problem by going out of their way to cause links to spawn new windows.
09/30/2006 05:57:05 PM · #20
I like links opening in new windows -- as stated previously, it allows the image to be in view while reading and responding to a thread. And that is strictly from a usability stand-point and simulates 'real-life' much better. For instance:

Consider going to a meeting at the local camera club and one of the other members hands you a photo and asks your opinion of it. The two options being:

-- opens in new window method --
You look at the image and discuss it with the person while still able to see the image.

-- opens in same browser window method --
You take the image, step out of the room to look at it, put it away and then discuss the image with the individual.

Leaving the forum thread open, with images opening in new windows is much more usable because it more closely matches how we would handle the situation if everyone was in the same room.

BTW: I don't think recycling a browser window as an image viewer would work as well -- there would be no way to compare two (or more) images side by side.

---

I do find it annoying that while I can discuss the image with them while in the same room, I have to leave the room to ask them where they are from ... or if they have any other images like the one ... or anything else that can be found out by reading their profile. It sure would be nice if the default was to not have to leave the room to find out more about them -- that is, if the profile opened in a new window by default as well.

David
09/30/2006 06:02:27 PM · #21
Originally posted by levyj413:

... "promiscuous" ... obnoxious...


this is an international site, please keep it simple! ;-)

well, it's just an extra page. I seriously think when you are bothered with things like this, you should go get out a bit more.
09/30/2006 06:22:08 PM · #22
I think we can have the functionality like:

when I put mouse cursor on the thumbnail then is display Image (as a div tag) on right hand side a popup layer and as soon as I take out my mouse from the thumnail it should close the layer. You can also achieve this by not doing it on "OnMouseOut" event but have a close image in the layer to close the image and when user click on that it will hide the layer.

There you might say that I accidently pass on the cursor on the thumbnail and it showed me image which I did not want to see, there we could add a condition that if the cursor is on the thumbnail for more then 2 seconds then popup a layer with the image otherwise no.

This is based on the assumption that how many times we ask our friends or family members to see just photographs and not comments, if you want to display photographs with comments then yes you can have popup window and there it will do whatever it is doing right now.

This will be helpful from the usability prespective.

Message edited by author 2006-09-30 18:29:03.
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