On the old forum, clicking on a link always opened in a new tab. This has now changed so that a link to another thread or post on diyaudio.com opens in the current tab, but a link to another site opens in a new tab.
I think it was much better when all links opened in a new tab, as it makes it much easier to go back and forth between different but related treads.
Yes, of course I know that one can right click on a link and select "Open in new tab" but I still think the old way was more user friendly.
Edit - if it's relevant, I use Edge browser.
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Other than that, now I have got used to it, I like the new format very much, congratulations to the team. Creating posts with attachments or images has become much more intuitive.
I think it was much better when all links opened in a new tab, as it makes it much easier to go back and forth between different but related treads.
Yes, of course I know that one can right click on a link and select "Open in new tab" but I still think the old way was more user friendly.
Edit - if it's relevant, I use Edge browser.
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Other than that, now I have got used to it, I like the new format very much, congratulations to the team. Creating posts with attachments or images has become much more intuitive.
I liked the old style of new tabs for everything. Not many websites do that. but it works well for this forum. The behavior is the same in most browsers.
I (and the UX experts) think it's poor form to open a new tab without asking. If you want a new tab as you say it's always available via right click or a long-press on mobile/tablet. This is a good read: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/new-browser-windows-and-tabs/
As you said:
The key word being related.
This all said, we are a unique speciality technical forum / community and if the normal rules shouldn't apply to us I don't we should be beholden to norms for the sake of norms. I'm open to further discussion.
I don't think any particular thought went into this choice when configuring XF. The default norm setting (if there is even a setting anymore) was implemented. I do think opening new tabs with every link is pretty non-standard though at this point in internet history so now is as good a time as any to "go back" to standard link opening behaviour.
Thank you for starting the discussion Ludas. It's a topic worthy of consideration. Perhaps the rule could be "links to other threads within a post" but not links to threads elsewhere in the site / listings / navigation / UI.
An example of this would be when opening a link to a PDF, or a BOM XLS, or a supplementary reference germane to the discussion.
As you said:
The key word being related.
This all said, we are a unique speciality technical forum / community and if the normal rules shouldn't apply to us I don't we should be beholden to norms for the sake of norms. I'm open to further discussion.
I don't think any particular thought went into this choice when configuring XF. The default norm setting (if there is even a setting anymore) was implemented. I do think opening new tabs with every link is pretty non-standard though at this point in internet history so now is as good a time as any to "go back" to standard link opening behaviour.
Thank you for starting the discussion Ludas. It's a topic worthy of consideration. Perhaps the rule could be "links to other threads within a post" but not links to threads elsewhere in the site / listings / navigation / UI.
Your suggested rule is actually what I intended to suggest, but expressed poorly - all links within a post should open in a new tab, but clearly not all the links elsewhere in the site that make it functional. This is how the old site worked.