Re: external links

At 20:39 5/05/00 +0100, Helen Banks wrote:
>I've just finished a predominantly frames site and have received feedback
>from someone connected with it who said that it is no longer considered
>good practice to force external links to open in a new window.  I have read
>that it is a good idea because that way you don't lose visitors who might
>not have seen the whole of the site but got seduced by an interesting or
>relevant link to another site.

G'Day Helen,

There are some thoughts about "spawning new windows" as being bad, some 
from an accessibility viewpoint, and others (I believe) deriving from the 
bad experiences at xxx sites that try to "capture" the audience.

 From an intellectual property viewpoint, I'd be very hesitant about simply 
linking someone's site WITHIN my own frames.  This leaves you  with two 
choices:

1. open in new window
2. open in _top (which replaces your page)

IMO both are valid options depending on the circumstances.  For isolated 
links, I'd go with option 2 - for lists of links, I'd go for a new window.


Chris Higgs <c.higgs(at)landfood.unimelb.edu.au>
Institute of Land and Food Resources
University of Melbourne http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au

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