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"Feel free to open an issue or submit pull request on Github." Why does the link to the project on GitHub open in a new browser tab? Is there some reason this

"Feel free to open an issue or submit pull request on Github." Why does the link to the project on GitHub open in a new browser tab? Is there some reason this behavior is foisted on folks who would rather have the content open in the same tab? (Spoiler alert: I'm one of those folks.) And, now that I take a closer look, it seems that every non-internal link on the page behaves the same way, spawning new tabs willy-nilly. Looks like a useful project. I'm just legitimately curious why people do this.

fahdsyed 13y ago
In hopes that when you close that new tab you will return to their site and spend more time taking a second look. That increases the likelihood of you trying their product and boosts page visitation time in analytics.
- SnowLprd 13y ago
  I'm aware that the malodorous motive you mentioned is often the reason behind this user-hostile behavior. I was hoping that wasn't the case here, and instead perhaps some cog in the publishing process was spuriously doing this automatically. Naïve of me, perhaps.
philipwalton 13y ago
Great question. I use Google Analytics to track where users are clicking, specifically, when users click on external links that aren't otherwise tracked by the GA tracking code. The problem is that if you click on a link that opens a new page, the functionality in the click handler may or may not run depending on how long it takes to redirect the request. That means that if I'm tracking clicks, I very well may be losing a good deal of data. The alternative is to hijack the click event, wait for say 100ms, and then load the new page via JavaScript, but that also break the open in a new tab functionality. In other words, there are no good options to track external click events via Google Analytics and still give users complete control over where the links go. The best option I could come up with is to always open external links in a new tab, because that way the click handling code always has time to run. If you're curious as to what I'm doing, here is the code: https://github.com/philipwalton/solved-by-flexbox/blob/master/scripts/track-events.js https://github.com/philipwalton/solved-by-flexbox/blob/maste... Anyway, it has nothing to do with wanting users to stay on my site. But I can't speak for why other people do this.
- SnowLprd 13y ago
  Thanks for the detailed explanation. My unsolicited two cents is that forcing this behavior on site visitors isn't worth whatever value you get from the analytics data. Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I find this behavior to be offensive enough that I immediately stop reading and move on. Trading user experience for analytics data is not a good trade.
  - spicyj 13y ago
    I also find forcing a new window/tab annoying and it makes sense not to when you're targeting a technical audience. However, I've just as often heard complaints from less-technical users who don't reflexively cmd/ctrl-click on links and for whom opening new windows in tabs is a feature, so even though forcing a new window can be annoying it's often a decision made to improve UX.
    - SnowLprd 13y ago
      That's what the Back button is for. Less-technical users don't need to know how to cmd/ctrl-click on links because even less-technical users know how to use the Back button. If they don't want to use the Back button and instead want to open links in new tabs, there are multiple mechanisms available to them (whether they know about them or not). The reverse is not true: if you don't want to open a link in a new tab, but that behavior is being forced on you, there is no way to avoid it. Regardless of the motive, this behavior is not a UX improvement.
      - andybak 13y ago
        In fact - opening a new tab BREAKS the back button. I've seen my father baffled when a new tab opened and he can't work out how to get back. (his tab bar has 300 open tabs as he never closes them). So - opening in a new tab is a disaster for non-technical users and an annoyance for technical ones. There might be some middle-ground where it's a good idea but I wouldn't bank on it.
        13y ago
kamjam 13y ago
Why does the link to the project on GitHub open in a new browser tab? I know the developer has given a very good explanation about this, and there are still others complaining... Curious to know whether it was just the link to the Github project which irked you (and others) or links to other external sites such as W3C/Bugzilla/CanIUse/etc are considered "valid" to open in new tabs?

fahdsyed 13y ago

In hopes that when you close that new tab you will return to their site and spend more time taking a second look. That increases the likelihood of you trying their product and boosts page visitation time in analytics.

SnowLprd 13y ago
I'm aware that the malodorous motive you mentioned is often the reason behind this user-hostile behavior. I was hoping that wasn't the case here, and instead perhaps some cog in the publishing process was spuriously doing this automatically. Naïve of me, perhaps.

philipwalton 13y ago

Great question. I use Google Analytics to track where users are clicking, specifically, when users click on external links that aren't otherwise tracked by the GA tracking code. The problem is that if you click on a link that opens a new page, the functionality in the click handler may or may not run depending on how long it takes to redirect the request. That means that if I'm tracking clicks, I very well may be losing a good deal of data. The alternative is to hijack the click event, wait for say 100ms, and then load the new page via JavaScript, but that also break the open in a new tab functionality. In other words, there are no good options to track external click events via Google Analytics and still give users complete control over where the links go. The best option I could come up with is to always open external links in a new tab, because that way the click handling code always has time to run. If you're curious as to what I'm doing, here is the code: https://github.com/philipwalton/solved-by-flexbox/blob/master/scripts/track-events.js https://github.com/philipwalton/solved-by-flexbox/blob/maste... Anyway, it has nothing to do with wanting users to stay on my site. But I can't speak for why other people do this.

SnowLprd 13y ago
Thanks for the detailed explanation. My unsolicited two cents is that forcing this behavior on site visitors isn't worth whatever value you get from the analytics data. Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I find this behavior to be offensive enough that I immediately stop reading and move on. Trading user experience for analytics data is not a good trade.
- spicyj 13y ago
  I also find forcing a new window/tab annoying and it makes sense not to when you're targeting a technical audience. However, I've just as often heard complaints from less-technical users who don't reflexively cmd/ctrl-click on links and for whom opening new windows in tabs is a feature, so even though forcing a new window can be annoying it's often a decision made to improve UX.
  - SnowLprd 13y ago
    That's what the Back button is for. Less-technical users don't need to know how to cmd/ctrl-click on links because even less-technical users know how to use the Back button. If they don't want to use the Back button and instead want to open links in new tabs, there are multiple mechanisms available to them (whether they know about them or not). The reverse is not true: if you don't want to open a link in a new tab, but that behavior is being forced on you, there is no way to avoid it. Regardless of the motive, this behavior is not a UX improvement.
    - andybak 13y ago
      In fact - opening a new tab BREAKS the back button. I've seen my father baffled when a new tab opened and he can't work out how to get back. (his tab bar has 300 open tabs as he never closes them). So - opening in a new tab is a disaster for non-technical users and an annoyance for technical ones. There might be some middle-ground where it's a good idea but I wouldn't bank on it.
      - 13y ago

kamjam 13y ago

Why does the link to the project on GitHub open in a new browser tab? I know the developer has given a very good explanation about this, and there are still others complaining... Curious to know whether it was just the link to the Github project which irked you (and others) or links to other external sites such as W3C/Bugzilla/CanIUse/etc are considered "valid" to open in new tabs?