Link in New Window Opens in New Tab

[txcyclist]

I have a Webhelp system, and some pages contain links to corporate videos on our YouTube channel. I need those links to open in a new browser window. I select "New Window" as the target frame, but the resulting HTML page opens the link in a new tab, rather than a new browser. I checked the HTML, and the target attribute value is "_blank," which should be correct for opening the link in a new browser.

Code:

Code: Select all

<a href="youtubevideoURL" target="_blank">

I'm stumped as to how to open these videos in new browser windows. I'm truly stuck.

[RamonS]

As far as I know that is up to the browser to display in either a new window or a new tab, by default most browsers open a new tab.
Based on a web search you need to use JavaScript to force opening of a new window. I shamelessly copy here:

Code: Select all

<a href="javascript:void();" onclick="window.open('something.com/somwehere';, 'NewButtonWindowName','width=1000,height=800,scrollbars=yes')">

[LTinker68]

Yeah, the target="_blank" was birthed back when browsers didn't use tabs, so how that attribute behaves is determined by what the user has configured in their browser.

Regarding opening up a new window... Are you doing it to size the browser window to the video size, or are you doing it just to separate the new location from the help? If it's the latter, then web usability gurus recommend against doing that, as users have the habit of using the browser's back button/icon to go back to the previous site, and opening content in a new window or tab eliminates that option, which can be annoying to end users. Some users, like me, set up their browsers to open new content in a tab, because a new window could end up partially offscreen or split across two monitors or because it just takes up more real estate and add a new program tab in the status bar that I don't want.

So the recommendation is to leave the content in the same window so the user has the back button/icon option, but if you really can't stand that, then use _blank, but let the user decide whether it should appear in a new tab or window.

If you're opening a new window so that its size matches the size of the video, then that's another matter. In that case, make sure you include a close icon or link so the user can close that window. Be aware, though, that even that may annoy users, as that window size could set the browser to that size the next time the user opens their browser, which might also really annoy the end user. MadCap used to do that with their Flare online help in WebHelp way back when, and that used to be a HUGE annoyance.

[txcyclist]

Yeah, the target="_blank" was birthed back when browsers didn't use tabs, so how that attribute behaves is determined by what the user has configured in their browser.

Thanks. We can totally work with that.

Regarding opening up a new window... Are you doing it to size the browser window to the video size, or are you doing it just to separate the new location from the help? If it's the latter, then web usability gurus recommend against doing that, as users have the habit of using the browser's back button/icon to go back to the previous site, and opening content in a new window or tab eliminates that option, which can be annoying to end users. Some users, like me, set up their browsers to open new content in a tab, because a new window could end up partially offscreen or split across two monitors or because it just takes up more real estate and add a new program tab in the status bar that I don't want.

We're very big on usability here. We have a web-based product, so opening the video in a new window allows the users to view the product and the video simultaneously. If they're set up to open in a new tab, we've decided to assume they can figure out how to pop out the tab to a new window and be able to view the video and our UI.

Thanks!