Comments on: MooTools OpenLinks Class – Updated

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:55:49 +0000

I totally hate the idea of “external” links opening in a new window but I prefer for pdf files to open in a new window.

With window.open you can’t really maximize a window or open it as a tab. The best you can do is get the screen size and open the new window to that dimension but it’s still not maximized. Setting the target to “_blank” just seems to work better.

If you care about the appearance of your html validating you can set up the script to add the target attribute.

By: David Walsh

David Walsh — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:10:30 +0000

@EmEhRKay: So window.open? It’s a preference thing I guess but I prefer target-blank as it isn’t as often blocked by popup blockers.

By: EmEhRKay

EmEhRKay — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:15:40 +0000

While I agree with David about the usefulness of target, my only beef is that this doesnt create valid html. Instead of doing el.set(‘target’…), one could attach a click event (yeah, the standard work-around for the removal of target) that would mimic target’s behavior.

By: Erik Edgren

Erik Edgren — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:34:51 +0000

@FoO Iskandar: Requesting the same thing here.

By: Sean McArthur

Sean McArthur — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:12:51 +0000

According to the W3C, they realized they made a mistake in deprecating the target attribute. They put it back in in HTML 5.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5-diff/

By: Facundo Corradini

Facundo Corradini — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:11:30 +0000

I think the best choice is to let users decide when to open a web page in a new tab/window, but force external documents to open new tabs.

By: Ryan Florence

Ryan Florence — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:14:28 +0000

Also … `new OpenLinks(‘a.open’)` is way better than `new OpenLinks({ elements: ‘a.open’});

By: Ryan Florence

Ryan Florence — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:11:23 +0000

I’d put the elements in an argument of the initialize function. When I create classes I try to think about what is and isn’t an option. In this case, the links aren’t really an option, they are the whole point of the class.

And for me, writing `this.elements` feels better than `this.options.elements`.

As for the new window discussion:

I’ve been doing software training/consulting for several years now for web-based software and have seen countless people “lose their place” when they close the browser thinking they’re just closing the PDF or whatever as David points out.

However, I’ve also seen just as many people throw their hands up in frustration because the site or application popped up a new window and they “lost their document” or whatever. It’s not lost, it’s just behind the one you’re looking at, after all, it’s called windows for a reason.

The decision has to be well thought out to pop open a new window or not based on the audience and context. I’m a fan of `_blank` when it’s appropriate. While I respect the w3c, I don’t understand the cultish clinging to ridiculous standards by the (mostly) basement developers. These aren’t medical documents anymore w3c, they’re applications.

By: Colin Gillies

Colin Gillies — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:01:03 +0000

Just my 2p, but I agree with David. As much as I like to adhere to W3C, when it comes to opening non-HTML files into the browser I always go for a new window. I have lost count how many times I have watched a client open a PDF / DOC in their browser and then closed the browser thinking it will return them to the site.

We can’t teach everyone how to do it ‘properly’ without leaving long instructions next to each link. Also, most of the time the application or document isn’t W3C / accesibility friendly anyway.

By: David Walsh

David Walsh — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:15:34 +0000

@Listen2Me: Seems easy enough, although in my experience, window.open() is more at risk of being blocked by popup blockers.