"Visit plugin site" should open in a new window

[empireoflight]

It's weird to take users off the site when they click on this link in the plugins section. Just a little thing to make the experience that much better :)

Usually we try to keep links in same tab, but I agree that in this case a new tab would be appropriate. It's not really clear from the link text that it's an external link, a lot of people expect something like a mini-site hosted on .org (and I've also heard people wish that's where everything was so they could be sure it was trustworthy etc).

Should "Visit author homepage" link be opened in a new tab as well? 20839.patch​ handles both.

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

Should "Visit author homepage" link be opened in a new tab as well?

I think so, yes. 20839.patch looks good to me.

20839.2.patch​ does the same for themes.

In 23394:

Open external links to plugin homepages, plugin author homepages, and theme author homepages in a new window/tab. props SergeyBiryukov. fixes #20839.

In 1203/tests:

Correct expected results in get_plugin_data() and WP_Theme tests. see [23394]. see #20839.

This should be tested in Safari on iOS. There is a limit of open tabs: 8 on iPhone and iPod touch, 9 on iPad (24 since iOS 6).

What happens when the new tab crosses that limit? Is the result predictable for the user?

What is a website (any site) supposed to do about that? Not being snarky, genuinely asking.

Not sure. In a regular website forced new windows should be avoided. In this case … maybe announce it somehow?

As a keyboard user I have to say, I don’t like new windows, Ctrl+back works much better than closing the new tab and searching for the previous. I don’t understand what problem was solved here. When a user wants to visit the plugin page, the plugin list in wp-admin is the obvious starting point, isn’t it?

Read comment:2 for the reasoning.

I read that, I just don’t understand what is wrong with the current window. target=_blank breaks the back button/shortcut. Why is that better than the current behavior?

It's an external site that isn't required to be on .org. Who knows what you could encounter - multiple redirects away, etc. This is a specific case (or rather, set of cases) and I agree that it's an appropriate place for a new window/tab.

Please leave the decision to the user. The normal and expected behavior of a link click is new content in the same tab. The user’s tab arrangement is not WordPress’ business. If you really need a forced new window write a plugin for that.

Even in those rare cases where the linked page breaks the back button (examples? never seen that), the user will always be able to find her WordPress dashboard again.

I know how little my opinion counts here … please ask at least on ​http://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/ for feedback before you push this into a release.

Replying to toscho:

Even in those rare cases where the linked page breaks the back button (examples? never seen that)

No one gave that as a reason for the change.

my 2 cents

There is no consistency right now. wordpress.org links in the help section open in a new window while in the bottom or dashboard they open in the same window.

IMO if external links are somehow a problem (and here I'm totally with toscho, user knows better and should be trusted to know how he wants to open a link based on his needs) the fix should be in JS and add the target attribute automatically to all the external links, including the dashboard and any pages added by plugins.

If there will be a filter to not execute this code maybe even toscho will be happy ;)

Related: #23432

We are talking about links that may or may not be on .org. What .org links in other places do is largely not relevant to this specific set of cases.

I'm confused about what the issue at hand is - is it that iOS has limitations or is it that there's opposition to ever opening a link in a new window/tab?

Replying to helen:

We are talking about links that may or may not be on .org. What .org links in other places do is largely not relevant to this specific set of cases.

I don't mind opening anew ticket for the rest of the links, but feels like a waste of time when it can all be handled here.

The point is that a plugin might insert many more links into the admin page and there is no reason the same logic will not be applied to them. Either all links open in new window or none.

I'm confused about what the issue at hand is - is it that iOS has limitations or is it that there's opposition to ever opening a link in a new window/tab?

Both.

Replying to helen:

I'm confused about what the issue at hand is - is it that iOS has limitations or is it that there's opposition to ever opening a link in a new window/tab?

As a keyboard user I’m naturally against forced new windows. :)

On the other hand, I might be biased, that’s why I want to read what other people with an accessibility focus have to say. Th iOS problem is secondary, but it should be tested, and the final solution should result in a predictable UX – for everyone.

I agree, opening in a new window is unpredictable and it affects accessibility. Instead of forcing behaviour, why not indicate that it's an external site. For example, the icon ​Trac uses for external links indicates fairly clearly that the link is not related to the current site.

The Trac icon option might work if the icon had alt text. But it still relies on sighted users understanding what that icon means. and spawning any new window without warning is a massive problem for switch users who may end up effectively stranded in the new window.

Replying to esmi:

The Trac icon option might work if the icon had alt text. But it still relies on sighted users understanding what that icon means. and spawning any new window without warning is a massive problem for switch users who may end up effectively stranded in the new window.

Absolutely, both alt text and a title would be needed. Also, I meant not opening in a new window but instead showing an icon, just to clarify. It would help that we have other links there, so the difference would help to distinguish it.

My understanding is that the idea is to differentiate a site that's not on .org, but I don't think merely opening in a separate window expresses this point. If this is the information/warning we're trying to give to the user, is there not a more definitive way to do that?

Forced new windows are generally undesirable. I don't even think that's just a "special needs" feeling, but I could be wrong. Personally, I have my browser set to suppress those into new tabs and even that can be cumbersome.

Replying to esmi:

The Trac icon option might work if the icon had alt text. But it still relies on sighted users understanding what that icon means. and spawning any new window without warning is a massive problem for switch users who may end up effectively stranded in the new window.

I fervently agree.

Replying to ceo:

Forced new windows are generally undesirable.

FWIW, in most browsers target="_blank" (added in [23394]) opens a new tab, not a window.

New window or new tab - doesn't really matter. It's still commandeering the user's browser which is irritating at best and catastrophic at worst. Ideally, the user should be able to decide how they want to open a link. If offsite links are flagged up in some way, let them decide if they want to open it in the same tab or a new one.

show domain name in link

We could just add the domain name to the link text:

http://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/20839/visit-plugin-site.png

After reading all the arguments against this I agree it's a bad idea.

I see no problem with opening external links in new tabs. If we want to add icons or something to designate external links, great, let's do that in a separate ticket.