If you’ve browsed the web for long, I’m sure you’ve come across sites where, when you click on links, a new browser window opens. If you want an example try this link: Blog Top Sites.

This is done by adding the attribute, target=”_blank”, to the link anchor tag.

How do you feel about having a site designer choose to force you to open a new browser window?

Lots of people don’t like this at all, and in fact I’ve seen it featured in lists of the most annoying things people have seen in web design, along with animated graphics and being caught inside someone’s frames. Many if not most people do not like having a site force the opening of a new browser window. It is intrusive.

Now, with the tabbed browsing used in Firefox and Internet Explorer v.7, I too find it annoying because I like to keep all my sites opened in tabs, in one browser window.

There’s a simple way to get around these types of links. If you realize you’re at a site that is opening browser windows you don’t want, just right-click on the mouse, right over the link you want to explore, and choose “open in new tab”. Voila! No more browser windows opening!

This tip is also very helpful for sites that use frames and force you to stay inside their frames while you explore other sites they’ve linked to. About.Com does this, though it also gives an option to click to get rid of their frame at the top of the page, so it is much better than many other framed sites we’ve seen. In the future if you find you’re at a site that keeps a frame open on the new site you want to see, just hit your back-arrow, and then right-click on the link for the new site you want to see, choosing “open in new tab’.

Here’s a quick browsing tip for you. If you’re curious about how long it has been since a webmaster changed the page you’re looking at, put this fragment of javascript in your browser’s address bar and click on ‘go’:

javascript:alert(document.lastModified)

You should get an alert window telling you the date of the last modification to that page.

I have this set up like a link in my bookmarks so I can easily click it to check the age of any page I’m looking at.