What would you like your users to know (was: Another W3C strict query)

At 10:30 25/05/02 -0700, Larry Coats wrote:

>You can expect this type of behavior especially from novice and casual users.

The back button is the second most used navigation tool; all but the most 
novice users will have some experience with it. By opening links in a new 
window, you are forcing the user to learn something about using the 
interface for your site (which is, in general difficult because they don't 
spend much time there) and are breaking the interface of their browser 
(which they will, in general, know much better than the interface to your 
site).

If you feel that your visitors may not know how to open links in new 
windows, tell them. That way they get to learn about their browser which 
means they will use the Internet a little better, and they have the option 
of opening the link in a new window if that is what they want. Always give 
the user the choice.

I'm going to write some boilerplate text that people can use for this sort 
of thing: "To open a link in a new window...." Apart from opening the link 
in a new window, and using the back and history functions, what browser 
tips would people like to give their users?

Andrew

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http://aamcf.co.uk/

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