Should links open in a new window?

By Tim Priebe on December 2, 2008 at 6:30 am in Development, html

No.

Let me elaborate.

Years ago, website were all about controling the user’s experience. Some sites went so far as to set up their site with a series of “Next Page” buttons instead of actual, usable navigation. Thanksfully, the web design industry has come a long way.

In more modern times, we have come to realize that the best way to keep a website visitor on your website is to let them navigate it however they want to. In fact, with all the freedom that’s out there now, people tend to get irritated when websites try to control the experience. With links to other sites specifically, you just need to provide good content and information on your website, and they’ll come back.

Although I’m probably not an average website user, I tend to leave sites that open links in new windows. I have heard the argument that most website visitors are less sophisiticated than myself. That may very well be true.

However, I’ve stood next to a client and watched as they followed a link from one website to another, then discovered they didn’t know how to get back to the previous site. (The back button in the browser is not universally understood, which shouldn’t be a surprise to web professionals.) However, as this person had doubtlessly encoutered this situation before, she simply closed that browser window, opened a new one and went back to the website.

So a lack of skill or web-savvy will not hinder anyone when links do not open in a new window. If they do any amount of web surfing at all, they’ve already learned to work around it.

Website Resources for Small Business Owners

By Tim Priebe on July 30, 2008 at 6:30 am in General, Link Roundup

Recently I scoured the web to come up with some website resources that could be useful for small business owners. While I’ve personally written on a lot of these topics in the past, it’s good to get a third-party point of view. As typically happens, I found others had already come up with great lists.

Check your links

By Tim Priebe on July 18, 2008 at 6:30 am in Maintenance

I can’t emphasize enough that you should frequently check links on your website. Both links to other sites and links within your site should be checked. And make sure other people check your links as well. While you should definitely be checking them yourself, chances are good that you’ll miss something. So have another two or three people help you go through the site and look at all the links.

Your links should be checked on a regular basis. For most sites, once every six months or so should be fine. Many things can make a website look unprofessional, and links that don’t work is high up on the list. After all, if you can’t even take care of your own website, what guarantee do customers have that you’ll take care of them?

Want an automated tool to check your links? While I still recommend checking your links personally, many HTML editors like Frontpage and Dreamweaver have this built in. You can also use online tools like the W3C Link Checker.