One never ending debate on the web is on whether external links should open in new windows. Some say Yes! they should open in new windows because we need to keep the users on our site as long as possible. Usually these are the sales/marketing people. The other group says No! They shouldn’t open in new windows, because they’re extremely annoying and we should always let the user decide. These are the programmers, the group I’m in.

There’s also a third player in the debate, the World Wide Web Consortium. According to the XHTML Strict specifications, the usage of the target attribute has been banned. This happens because the XHTML Strict standard focuses entirely on the content of the document while sending all the presentation data to the stylesheet. The target attribute is a presentational one, because it specifies how the data from the hypertext reference should be presented to the user (in a new window, in a frame and so on). The XHTML Strict standard is meant to be used with all kinds of user agents – not just browsers – even with those that don’t support data presentation in the traditional way, in a browser’s window. This category of user agents includes, but is not limited to, screen readers for visually impaired persons, text-based browser such as links, web crawlers and so on. How could a text-based browser open a link in a new window? It doesn’t even have the “new window” concept. Keep reading»

Some time ago, I’ve stumbled upon some specifications about the proper use of the label tag on webpages. And it seems that labels are a must if you want to make your page accessible to people with disabilities or if you just want to pass the Cynthia says validation and brag about it. Keep reading»