[WEB4LIB] Re: HTML Question - target="new"

[Diana Calder]

Wednesday, March 14, 2001, 4:13:12 PM, Daniel Messer wrote:

DM> While I know there is a way to do this (I know for a fact that it can be done 
DM> with Java) I would make one reccomendation. Forewarn people coming to your 
DM> site that it's better to use IE to view it.

I have a better suggestion: take a second look, and consider WHY it's
necessary to open a second window at all. The things that annoy me
most about websites are pop-up windows, excessive cookies (I've had a
single page ask to send TEN different cookies!), and sites that use
browser-detection scripts. Unless you are forcing the second window to
remain on top as well as being smaller, I fail to see where this is
any more useful than simply opening a full-size window. It is also
worth noting that forcing a small-size window to open in Opera when
windows are being run maximized causes ALL the Opera windows to resize
since it forces them to switch to cascaded (there is a way to avoid
this using Opera's settings, but then it forces any new windows that
open to open maximized, which is still annoying as pop-ups, for
example, steal the focus).

DM>  I would do this if for no other 
DM> reason than it seems to me that Microsoft has won the so-called "browser 
DM> wars." Don't believe me?

As long as there is no open-source IE for Linux, I don't think that
Microsoft can be considered to have won the browser wars. Also,
considering that Opera defaults to reporting itself as IE in order to
force badly-designed websites to work with it, the figures for Opera
usage vs. IE usage are definitely not 100% correct.

DM>  But I think its time some folks face facts and
DM> realize that M$ is going to run over as many corporations as they can, even 
DM> if they have to resort to the tactic of making their software work properly.

Maybe, maybe not.  But if I encounter a site that refuses to work
properly with anything other than IE, I just leave (unless I HAVE to
use that site for work).  And if I'm doing online shopping, the site
in question had better work with Opera or I take my business
elsewhere.  Am I overly picky about this?  Maybe.  But then again,
there are lots of people out there using PDAs, cell-phones, WebTV,
etc. to surf the net, and a site that only works properly with IE
isn't going to work properly for them either.

DM> Maribeth Manoff <manoff at aztec.lib.utk.edu> said:

>> 
>> I am using the <a href=> tag with the target="new" attribute to bring up
>> a new window for a link.  In Netscape Navigator, the new window is full
>> size; in Internet Explorer, it is sized down so you can see the first
>> window behind it.  Is there a way in HTML to control this window
>> sizing?  Specifically, I would like the new window to appear as it does
>> in IE, so that the first window is still visible.

As I mentioned above - what's the line of reasoning for wanting the
first window to remain visible?  Would something like the About.com
method of putting a narrow bar at the top with the option to return to
the previous page or to remove the navigation bar work instead?  Or
even the Hotmail method "You are now visiting a page outside of
Hotmail, close this window to return to Hotmail"?

Diana