[Sigia-l] Usability of launching new browser window?

[Benjamin Protas]

> I've found the responses to this question interesting. As a user, 
> perhaps I'm in the minority but I really hate having to use the back 
> button very much. It seems like a lot of mouse clicks and an awkward 
> cognitive load of remembering where I came from. Of course there's 
> the "Go" list to remind me, but that still forces my mindset into a 
> linear model.
> 

I can't argue with the cognitive load of the Back button -- however don't a
bunch of windows present a cognitive load as well?  Certainly not when you have
two side-by-side, but what about when you've been browsing all day and you have
50?  Did you remember to close them? Which ones do you still need?  What happens
when a site pops up a bunch of ads?  The back button does present a linear
cognitive load, but it also does not clutter the interface.  Things remain
simple and, at least, consistent.


> If I'm on Site A, and it provides me with a list of recommended 
> links, I enjoy being able to check each link in a new window, having 
> the two windows open so I can glance back at the list of links. This 
> allows me to keep two concepts flowing at once - the recommended 
> links and my own evaluation of each link.

Again -- this works for two, but what about 50?  On my development machine right
now, where I use 'virtual desktops' and keep projects open for days so that I
can quickly access them, I have more than 400 windows of various types open.  My
browser( Mozilla), however, occupies a single window.  It also has the single
greatest advance, in my opinion, in web browsing in the past year -- tabs.  Now,
I can keep all my pages in a single window, and if I want to keep something for
easy access later, I can open it in a tab.  It doesn't clutter my interface
nearly as much, and still allows for non-linear browsing.  I can go to a site
such as slashdot, and scan down the front page while popping each interesting
article into its own tab to review when I'm done with the front page.  This
isn't nearly as confusing as multiple windows, because I can see all the tabs in
one spot and they are all clearly labeled.

The other thing I really like about the interface is it is consistent in its use
of quasimodes.  I can hold down option (on my Mac) and click to open a link in a
new window, or hold down the apple key and click to open it in a new tab, or
just click to keep it in the window I'm in.


> I don't buy the argument that opening a new window makes using the 
> back button impossible. The first window is still there at the main 
> site and still has it's history before that intact. If users are 
> getting more savvy, they know that. And if developer's follow  Zia's 
> recommendation to offset and size the new window it's even more 
> obvious that that's the case.
> 

The worst part is that the back button is STILL there in the new window, it just
doesn't work anymore.  I often use the example of my dad, who is older and has
vision problems.  Offset-and-size won't work, because he'll never see it.  It
will take him hours to realize that there is a new window obscuring his old one,
and he will mostly likely have started whatever process he was working on over.
Screen readers are similarly confused by new windows and finding old content.
In short, although there are things you can do to make automatic
multiple-window-browsing USABLE, it ends up being an accessibility nightmare.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is leave the user in control.  If your site
defaults to opening in the same window, the user can learn to force links to
open in a new window.  If your default is to open in new windows, however, there
is NO WAY that a user can force the link to open in the same window.  Your site
is rendered inaccessible to that group of users who can't accommodate this mode
of operation.



ben