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Open link in new tab?


bmn

  

56 members have voted

  1. 1. Should links open in a new tab by default?

    • Yes, change it so a left click on a link opens in a new tab.
      49
    • No, leave it as it is so it opens in the same tab.
      7


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So this has come up a few times. The majority of forums on the Interweb today make it so if you click a link to an outside website, that link will open up a new browser tab. SSMB, though, has them use the current tab instead.

 

The reasoning behind our selected behaviour is that it gives you the user full flexibility - with "new tab" links, you don't have the option to open in the same tab. With "same tab" links, you can right click and select "open in new tab"/hold Ctrl while clicking/middle click to open in a new tab.

 

That's the idea at least, but a number of people have mentioned being confused by how it acts differently to how they're accustomed from other forums. So, have your say here. The poll results will be used (as long as there are enough votes), but you're also welcome to post on the subject.

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I say open in a new tab.

 

I can't really think of a reason I'd ever want to open it in the same tab I already have open. It's so much simpler to just pull up a new tab for a few seconds and then get rid of it and continue.

 

Though I usually just right-click like you said.

 

EDIT: I'm so not used to this site having polls lol.

Edited by Solkia
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It's annoying when I see a link in a status update or a post, then when I'm done with it, instinctively close the tab instead of clicking back this closing my SSMB tab. I'd much prefer it to open links in a new tab by default.

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It usually doesn't matter because half of the time I just click the mouse wheel when I want something to open in another tab.  But accidents do happen and sometimes I click the left mouse button instead.

 

That aside, even if half the time I habitually use the mouse wheel, it just makes more sense from a functional standpoint that they'd open in a new tab anyway.  It makes navigation quicker for the two people alive today who do not have a wheel on their mouse and keeps people from having to backtrack when they accidentally click on a link without specifying that it should open in a new tab.  Also, I find that it's a lot quicker and easier to close out of a tab than it is to use the back button.  So say if I'm browsing the forums one day and someone posts a link in the status updates or wherever.  I click on it, and find that it's not something I want to see.  If it opens in a new tab, then I can just close it out and it will pretty much instantly be gone from my sight.  But if I accidentally click on it and it opens in the same tab, I'll have to press the back button which, depending on how my connection chooses to behave that day, could take a lot longer.

 

Basically, I see no reason why external links shouldn't be opened in new tabs.  Any complications that arise from it can easily be remedied and it just functionally makes more sense.

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I'm a fan of the open-in-new-tab, though my habit on all websites it to right-click>new tab anyways, so I don't know if it'll affect me much. Though for a forum and stuffs, I guess it's nice to have it go to a new tab automatically so you can instantly switch back to SSMB to comment/post about it without pressing back in the same tab. Definitely not opposed to the current way though if more people like it that way, it's just a minor thing~

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Open in a new tab, every time.

 

The amount of times I've been deep in a topic which has many, many pages, clicking a link therein, closing said link then losing where I was.

 

No mouse wheel either, so can't open them that way.

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Open in a new tab, every time.

 

The amount of times I've been deep in a topic which has many, many pages, clicking a link therein, closing said link then losing where I was.

 

No mouse wheel either, so can't open them that way.

You can just right click them and select "Open in New Tab."

 

But I think it makes it a lot quicker and more efficient if they just open in new tabs by default.  Much more user-friendly.

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Open in a new tab, every time.

 

The amount of times I've been deep in a topic which has many, many pages, clicking a link therein, closing said link then losing where I was.

 

No mouse wheel either, so can't open them that way.

Ctrl+Left Click offers the same functionality, in Chrome at least.

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One of the golden rules I learned when developing any Website is to, by association, not let them use the "back" button under any circumstances. When you're forced to use the "back" button, the Website becomes much less user-friendly whether I'm conditioned to right-click on the new link or not.

 

I'm on two other IP.B forums, and each time I click on a link there, it automatically opens a new tab. Whenever I go back to the forums, all I need to do is click on the tab.

 

The way the SSMB does is extremely inconvenient, especially for those like myself whose right-clicking is more complicated. I'm a Mac user, and the way I normally right-click is by either holding the trackpad with two fingers or "Control+the trackpad." Because of the way the Mac right-clicks and how the other two forums I'm on enabled automatic tab-opening, occasionally I won't right-click, so whenever I open the link, I leave the SSMB and arrive at the new Website. I'm forced to hit the "back" button to return, and it gets very annoying when that happens. Plus, there are times when links take a while to load, especially when I'm using a hotel Internet provider, giving me the olf Wheel of Misfortune. With two tabs open, I can focus on the SSMB and then wait for the new tab to finish loading; if only one tab opens, the Wheel keeps spinning, and when I want to go back, it can take twice as long to reload.

 

Automatically opening a link in a new tab makes touring the forum much easier. I can toggle both the forums and new website and have the SSMB do the work for me. It makes the SSMB more user-friendly and less annoying.

Edited by Dark Qiviut
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I always right click > new tab as Wolfy does, though I understand this isn't the norm for everyone. However I'll bandwagon by saying a new tab system would be best; it's easy to discard the tab after a few seconds and in my view is more convenient than hitting the back button.

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I just tend to right click to a new tab anyways, so a different way wouldn't really matter to me. A faster way to do things sounds nice though.

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  • 1 month later...

Hate to bump a topic, but is anything going on with this?

Sorry for replying a little late (was too lazy to reply in the last few days), but it seems that clicking links opens them in a new tab now.

Edited by Sky The Destroyer
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I'm a fan of the open-in-new-tab, though my habit on all websites it to right-click>new tab anyways, so I don't know if it'll affect me much. Though for a forum and stuffs, I guess it's nice to have it go to a new tab automatically so you can instantly switch back to SSMB to comment/post about it without pressing back in the same tab. Definitely not opposed to the current way though if more people like it that way, it's just a minor thing~

 

^this basically. I'm too used to doing it now to really notice this change but I'll vote yes anyways.

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