[RFC] Stop forcing user links to open in new tab

EricEndo

I implemented my flarum as a Progressive Web App (PWA) so now the members can "install" the app in their smartphone homescreen. When using the homescreen icon, the forum opens in a "standalone" browser window without address bar, status bar and other browser ui, almost like a native app. I had a problem because all internal links were opening in a new window and displaying all browser ui again. No good for UX. So, my opinion is that external links should open in a new tab and internal links should open in the same tab.

By the way, i "fixed" the "problem" with this aditional script in the custom footer:

document.addEventListener('click', event => { let t = event.target; if (t.matches('.Post-body a[target="_blank"]')) { let url = new URL(t.href); if (url.origin == document.location.origin) { t.removeAttribute('target'); t.removeAttribute('rel'); } } }, false);

Edit: dont know how to fix code indentation.

jordanjay29

luceos I probably prefer to have links to the current flarum installation or current domain opened in the same tab. Other links should be opened in a new tab.

This.

When there are instances that users want to open an internal link in a new tab (e.g. other discussions, admin panel) then they should use built-in browser behavior.

External links should follow standard internet behavior and open in a new tab. Keeping visitors on your site is important to keep discussions going, and _self links are likely to be more useful for site visitors rather than site members depending on the community, so using _blank behavior gives your visitors another reason to look at your site again.

[deleted]

Powermage I also work in the IT industry (CISO / Director) and agree 100% with your synopsis.

nitaaikumar

I have html5 video links of videos I host on another server and domain which I want them to open in the same tab, not in another tab like it is doing now. So that when they close the video, they will land back on the forum discussion from where they clicked the video link on, and not in some empty tab. I have decided not to embed the videos in my discussions as my videos are portrait and are just increasing the scrolling and loading time. And also clicking on the mp4 links is directly playing the videos fullscreen height in desktops also which is what I want, so it it is much better than embedding. Please how can I disable this _blank target for all links? Please help. I think I can't force a self target with bbcode links also right? I don't know how to do this.

I am an advocate of always keeping all links internal or external to open in the same tab. If they want to open a link in another tab they can always hold it and tap on open in new tab. Imho this is what is called giving the visitors the choice and not forcing them to toggle between tabs just because we think it is the right thing to do for external links. Even if an external link opens in the same tab, they can always use the back button in the browser to come back to the forum page. In fact, they can't use the back button to come back if it opens in another tab which is actually more frustrating.

They are many articles online which say the same thing. Don't force on the visitors what you think is the best and they will be more comfortable to visit again. And new tabs opening even with external links is certainly going to annoy many visitors. If they like the discussions, they will surely tap the back button to come back and participate even if they go to an external link in the same tab. We always find our way back to things which interest us. No one has to force us to do that. And if they don't like the discussions, then even if the external link opens in another tab they won't come back to the discussion. If they feel it will be too hard to come back to the post position in the discussion they are on, then they could always tap and hold on the link and open it in a new tab. This is what I feel.

This worked:

$ grep -n _blank  ./vendor/flarum/core/src/Formatter/Formatter.php
135:            $a->setAttribute('target', '_blank');

nitaaikumar

nitaaikumar Thanks @Franz. Is there any way by custom css or extension, I can open all the links even the external ones in the same tab at this present time? It is really become difficult to come back to the dicussion for those who tap the external self-hosted mp4 links in my forum posts as they are opening in blank tabs. It is as if they just leave the forum because the video links are opening in new tabs. Any help would be kindly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

danielunited

Hey guys, any update on this? Opening the admin tab in the _self instead of _blank seems to be a better UX.

Opening the admin panel in _blank also causes problems in external tools such as Intercom's Guided Tours.

Btw, inspecting the document and changing _blank into _self doesn't seem to do anything and the admin panel opens in a new tab.

clarkwinkelmann

danielunited as discussed via Discord, it's a bit of a different thing, and I'm actually not sure whether we have any issue/discussion about that particular link. It might be worth opening a dedicated discussion about this to see whether we want to change the default behavior.

For anyone finding this while looking at changing the admin link behavior, it's actually pretty simple to change it via the javascript API:

// Make admin panel open in same tab
extend(SessionDropdown.prototype, 'items', function (items) {
    if (!items.has('administration')) return;
    items.get('administration').props.target = '_self';
});

It's one of those features that should be bundled in another extension, because it's almost too simple to be made into its own extension.

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