Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Clicking a link opens new tab?

Hey there! I don't think this has been suggested recently but-

I would like to suggest adding a coding option for opening a new tab when clicking on a link inside a profile. Please?

Like, I have a lot of thumbnails in my profile, and I think it'd be nice to be able and add a code for the thumbnail to open into a new tab instead of changing the current page.

I'm well aware that Ctrl + Click will make the same effect. As well as the lesser known: Clicking on link with mouse wheel. (My fave!) But not as many people are savvy about that. I think it'd be a lot more convenient to have it open in a new link with a code.

Thank you for your consideration!

This has been asked before (though I don't think it's been in the suggestions forum!) and I'm not quite sure how I feel about this being a possibility. On one hand I can totally understand how annoying it can be to have to ask visitors to Ctrl+Click to view the images in new tabs.

On the other, I REALLY enjoy the freedom of deciding for myself whether to do this or not, especially when I browse on mobile. Browsers allocate tons of memory to each new tab, even when it's just an image, and it can impact performance on a wide range of devices and rigs with lesser specs. Sometimes viewing an image in the same tab is perfect to avoid stress on whatever device I'm on. I can see forced new tabs being a problem depending on where I am.

(This kind of feels like a sort of 'can we autoplay music on our sites?' to me - it's awesome and cool for the profile owner who loves the profile working in a certain way, but more often than not it's really unwelcome behavior for visitors for a number of reasons. That's just my thought on it though!)

I was going to say this sounded like a good idea, but after reading Sanne's point of view on it, I have to agree. Not only could it cause problems for mobile users but it could possibly affect those with poor internet or simply be an annoyance to those who wish the freedom to choose whether or not to open in a new tab.

I simply put a small text notification over my images telling people they can open the image in a new tab if they wish and leave it at that. Yeah, it may not always -look- grand, but... it's something.

I'm sorry if I seem confused. I wasn't aware that a lot of people read this site on a mobile device. The purpose of this website, I thought, was to showcase roleplaying character profiles. At least, that's what those of us who play Furcadia use it for.

If your intention is to look at someone's character profile, it is quite a hassle to click on something only to have to press the back off the page to get onto the original one many times.

I see a lot of flaws in the gallery feature on RPR. So I prefer to showcase images in a thumbnail format. It's a much sleeker design this way. I also have a Ctrl + Click note on my gallery.

I can see why you wouldn't want an autoplay feature for sites. Nothing is more annoying than clicking on a random site and five seconds later being blasted with something. But to be able and auto-pop windows into a new tab is not the same on any means.

If someone doesn't like to have new windows open from a link, they'll quickly figure out someone's site does that via the first click. And therefor, won't have to click on anymore links. I think this is a much better alternative than the tons of people that don't click on any links for the sake that it'd take you away from the page you're on. Since many do not know about the Ctrl + Click or Middle Mouse click.

It's either this which is a simple fix, or completely rework the gallery widget. I know there are many, many who don't like the gallery widget.

I think that is why Obsidious offered the 'link opens new tab' as a code, instead of rewriting all image links. This way, those that don't use mobile devices, can have their website how they like. Those that do use mobile devices, obviously wouldn't add in the code, because they know other mobiles user use it. I think, at least. I know I never use my phone to look at this website, because it is too hard on it as it is. If I noticed it was being harder to load, I would simply just wait till I get home to look at, whatever it was, on my computer. That, is just me and my thoughts though.

This code gives the users the freedom, and if the issue is the viewers freedom? Then, just as you're already having to put up a message to right click things, in order to open a separate tab... You can do for that same system as well. Just add in a note that it opens a new tab instead.

I think it is safe to assume, that people who view our personal RPRs are from the same platform we're using. It would be odd for a mobile user to be looking at my RPR, because I have it posted all over a game, on the computer. (Not saying it doesn't happen) but I know there's at least 95% of my viewings from people on the game I play, and I would personally like to be able to cater to my webpage based on that knowledge.

Just my suggestions/thoughts.

I'm one of the people who hates the gallery widget, and I fully intend to rework it.

Addressing the actual suggestion, not just my desire to rebuild the gallery widget:

I'm very much on the fence about this. As far as some people not being savvy enough to know to ctrl-click -- there's a lot of people in this camp that are very confused about the difference between going back and new tabs, who don't understand why the back button suddenly stopped working. There's actually a big movement going on in the web world at the moment trying to discourage programmers from using anything that breaks normal browser functions, such as the back button. Forcing a new tab to open without the user requesting one is one of those things being fought over. I'm not 100% convinced yet, but they make great arguments.

My biggest concern is that as things stand on the site right now, if you prefer things to open in a new window, you have that option via ctrl-click. If the link is coded to always open in a new window, you no longer have a choice (except to not interact with the person's profile anymore, which is a sub optimal outcome in my mind).

As far as greater convenience for the viewer, I'm not sure about that either. There's just as many hotkeys and browser buttons for going "back" as there is for closing a new tab, and if you didn't know a new tab was going to open, you might try going "back" before you try "close."

A huge portion of the membership access the site from a mobile device at least some of the time. (A huge portion of the membership is also from Furcadia, and there's tons and tons of overlap in those groups!) That number has been going up steadily for the last few years, and shows no signs of slowing down (true for most sites out there, actually!). So I don't think it's safe for anyone to assume that just because they don't use the RPR that way, they don't know people who will, at some point, try to view their profile from a phone. Heck, I sometimes access the RPR from my mobile WHILE I'm at my computer, for instance because I am playing a game!

I'm doing more and more to cater to mobile users here, and considering their needs is a requirement for me these days. I made the main site and groups mobile responsive last year, and will be doing the same for profiles this year. But this is less a mobile concern for me and more an issue of user choice.

But if this is really just to get around the gallery widget being clunky, I'd prefer to just fix the gallery widget!