Do you open a new window when you send users to an external site?

Usability guru Jakob Nielsen says don't do it. He says, "Users deserve to control their own destiny." He even included it as #6 among his Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002.

I say he's wrong.

His reasoning: "When they want the destination to appear in a new page, they can use their browser's 'open in new window' command."

It's true, they CAN do that. But I challenge that the majority of Web users don't know how. In fact, I challenge that the majority of Web users don't even know the option exists. This is particularly true for sites geared toward a general public audience.

And while I am normally the last person to put business needs over usability, I think in this particular case it's warranted.

My reasoning:

Sending users to an external site without opening a new window breaks a more important rule of usability: You've given users no way to get back to your site other than the browser's "Back" button. I've seen pretty varied study results on this topic, but generally they state that somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of users employ "Back" button navigation over actual site navigation. Either way you look at it, you're left with a significant chunk of people who tend (read: prefer) not to use it.

You would never rely entirely on browser navigation to get users back to your home page (or any subsequently viewed page) when they are still within your site, so why would you want to do so on an external site and assume people will find their way back to you?

By opening new pages for external sites, you ensure that your company's site is still open on your users' screens, not giving them the opportunity to forget they were looking for information/products/services there.

In comparison to these considerations, I believe the negative impact on users who do know how to use the "open in new window" command is minimal.

I'm also going to have to call Jakob out on the illustration he uses for this topic, which shows a man surrounded by pop-up advertising as he complains "windows keep popping up everywhere I go!" Juxtaposing pop-up ads and new-window links is completely inappropriate and misleading. Users actively seek the information they receive when they click a link that opens a new window. A fundamental difference.

March 9, 2003

UPDATE

The results of my own informal (read: non-scientific) polling overwhelmingly support my hypothesis that most users, in fact, do NOT know this little "trick." And yes, I am using a less-than-ideal snowball sampling method, but everyone I've asked spends at least three hours a day online. Ages range from 13 to 60 -- all but three fall within the 20-40 age group. Every person within that age range is a professional who spends the bulk of his/her day using a computer and much of that time is spent online. (None of them spend any time reading online journalism or design blogs. =)

Know quick-key shortcut to open a new window: 2
Don't know: 13

Did I mention these results aren't scientific? I freely and openly admit this. The sample isn't even close to being of sufficient size to generalize to the entire online population and you need a random sample. However, I was led to some of these people by asking respondents who did know who else they thought would know. And still no. By the way, of the two who did know, both consider themselves big-time tech geeks.

The more I think about it, I don't know why anyone who doesn't actively seek out shortcuts would know. The only ways to know it exists (besides having someone tell you) are to actually do it by accident or to right-click on a link and investigate the menu.

March 11, 2003

See also: Revisiting the question of target="_blank"