MarkRH on "New URL popup creates more work"

Samuel,

I understand the arguments, but I think it's fair to emphasize that this is an opinion not everyone holds. I read a few articles yesterday saying the same things, and each had a sizable segment of commenters disagreeing. Some will say doing it breaks the Back button; others will counter that not doing so forces readers to lose their place in an article when they click a link that references something.

To make a real-world parallel, opening exteal links in new tabs is like leaving the book you're currently reading open while you grab another to check a source, or open a dictionary to look up the word. You wouldn't normally close your current book just to do those things.

I ran an informal survey on Twitter yesterday; most people responded that they prefer exteal links to open in new tabs: https://twitter.com/TomFrankly/status/721775868159242240

Yes, people can middle-click or change their browser settings. Many won't, though - especially when they're used to big sites like Facebook, YouTube, etc opening exteal links in new tabs by default.

That isn't to say that I'm in favor of letting big websites and social networks have the final say in establishing paradigms. I just want to establish that the idea that this model is an unjustified "anti-patte" is an opinion, and it's not universally held.

Website publishers should be free to choose whether or not they want to to use it - especially when many users prefer it. The previous versions of WordPress gave publishers that choice in a perfectly reasonable way.