Open Links in New Tab/Window

Have an idea for improving the forum? Share it here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Matt K
Verified
Posts: 3945
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:34 pm
Contact:

Open Links in New Tab/Window

Post by Matt K »

It has been requested that when you click on a link, to open that link in a new tab/window. I've looked into it and it is doable, but the problem is it will change the HTML and break standard practice. In and of itself I'm not opposed to breaking a few rules like that sine they're more recommendations! However, for those who use this forum on their phone or tablet, it would also force a new tab as well, which is generally recommended to avoid as it can lead to poor user experience.

There are some options, though for the popular browsers, I don't see any native way to emulate this behavior, except making a change to the underlying OS but only on Mac and only for Safari. I won't link explicitly to any Add-Ons for browsers unless I'm fairly certain of their validity. Add-Ons can be a way for malicious or otherwise unintended code to execute on your machine, especially Chrome, which is highly integrated with Gmail accounts and has some special magic that treats the browser as an embedded OS. (Also check your phone permissions for apps, you might be surprised what you're giving permissions to. That flashlight app? Probably has access to your phone book and probably permission to make phone calls!)

Chrome
It doesn't seem like a particularly requested feature as Chrome does not have a default setting to change this. A cursory search of addons reveals a handful that emulate this behavior.

Firefox
Firefox has a similar problem to Chrome. See this support article on the official Mozilla support page for details about workarounds.

Edge
Also no built in option. You can read [urlhttps://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/forum/edge_other-edge_win10/automatically-open-linkssearches-in-new-tab-for/5c26011b-2c82-4e59-a464-a5612d2df36a]this support article [/url]from the MS support pages about some potential workarounds.

Safari
On Mac, some users have discovered a terminal change that can influence this behavior but I have not tested it so I cannot verify it's voracity. The support article can be found here.

General Ways to Access New Tabs
There are several shortcuts that are usually accepted by modern browsers for opening new tabs:
  1. Middle Click with Mouse
  2. CTRL + Click (or Command + Click on a Mac)
  3. (If the link is selected by tabbing to it) CTRL + ENTER
Post Reply

Return to “Comments & Suggestions”