Heyho everyone out there! It may well be that this question has already come up and has been answered - if so, I apologise for wasting everyone's bandwidth.

I would like to have the target="_blank" tag inserted automatically into links which appear in articles - one reason is that I don't want the surfer to navigate away from my site and the second reason is that I find it far more convenient. Links in articles are invariable only pointing at extra info, which can be looked at and then the rest of the article is read.

Example:
Normal link
Blank Target Link

Has this issue been raised before?

Thanks in advance,
Nils.

In my opinion, opening links in a new window is not a good idea. I've seen novice users being confused by this, especially when they were surfing with their browser window maximised - then sometimes they don't recognize that a new window has been opened and only wonder why the back button doesn't work any more.

And then there is always the option to open links in a new window as an option in the browser (e.g. with a click on the middle mouse button on Linux or right click and selection from the context menu on Windows). However, there is no option to prevent this, once the site's author uses target=_blank ...

So in my opinion, when you open new windows, you might confuse novice users and annoy the more advanced users. And you don't really want to do that when you want to make people come back to your site ...

Besides, what's wrong with opening links in the same window? Even the most novice user learns about the existence of the back button within his/her first hour on the web. When they want to come back to your site, they will find it. If they don't want to come back, don't try to force them while at the same time annoying those who (want to) visit your site regularly ...

bye, Dirk

As an Admin using a pop-up page to draw a chat program (allowing my users to surf while they chat) I am forced to agree. Having gotten submissions from half my users to link back to the main page in the popup, I finally broke down and added some text to the window explaining the catch. Better to just let them know as they bring up the question that they should open the new window with thier browser.

i also like new links in new windows - however this is only because i browse alot of site like forums and slashdots, were there are many stories i like to read off the main page, and open them all in tabs/windows while keeping main site open as they load.

Also - i often like to continue reading the current page, as the link loads... in the background it's a few seconds - but long enough to get a few more sentences in before i switch windows.

I do however agree that links in new windows can be irritating, and i'm sure if it was more widely spread i'd dislike it more than i do.

So on my sites i offer a compromise: links to resources within the site - local links - stay in the same window. links to outside resources - external links - are opened in a new window.

/just my 2 cents.

so... how can you do it? I'd like my submitted links and the links in topics to open in new windows (per user requests)

This is just a guess but I bet it is in your theme. Maybe linkdetails.thtml??

I did a simple forum search and found it leads to gobs of info on this.

Good Luck.

Hi together

It is to change in linkdetails.thtml, just add target="_blank" and it's done.

Cheers from Switzerland

That only works for links in the Web Resources area. Not from the weblog itself.

This is one way:
http://www.geeklog.net/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=3&showtopic=14796

And if you want to use it also for the user`s homepage then you got to change it in users/profile.thtml target="_blank" too.