Anchor links may have a target attribute which controls what happens when that link is clicked. One of the possible values of that attribute is _blank, which tells the browser to open a new window ( or tab if that's the user's preference ) when that link is clicked.
This used to be "invalid" in HTML ( maybe only XHTML? ) but people used it anyway since it worked. It's now perfectly valid in HTML5. But are there good reasons to do so?
When you use target="_blank"
A bad reason: Because you like it that way.
Like it or not, target="_blank" is a change in default behavior. links opening within the same page is the default behavior ( as if the link had target="_self" on it ).
A bad reason: Just because you want user to never leave your page.
A bad reason: "Internal" links and "External" links are different.
A bad reason: The links is to a PDF
A bad reason: My client wants it that way.
A good reason: The user is working on something on the page, that might be lost if the current page changed.
<form>have target="_blank" too. It's a uncommon use case.
This used to be "invalid" in HTML ( maybe only XHTML? ) but people used it anyway since it worked. It's now perfectly valid in HTML5. But are there good reasons to do so?
When you use target="_blank"
A bad reason: Because you like it that way.
Like it or not, target="_blank" is a change in default behavior. links opening within the same page is the default behavior ( as if the link had target="_self" on it ).
A bad reason: Just because you want user to never leave your page.
A bad reason: "Internal" links and "External" links are different.
A bad reason: The links is to a PDF
A bad reason: My client wants it that way.
A good reason: The user is working on something on the page, that might be lost if the current page changed.
<form>have target="_blank" too. It's a uncommon use case.
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