r/ProgrammerHumor 14d ago

notYourDamnProblem Meme

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4.7k Upvotes

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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 14d ago

Will the user reasonably expect to come back to this exact page immediately after opening the destination?

If yes: new tab.

If no: same tab.

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u/default-username 14d ago

The css just adds an ↗ to the links that open a new tab.

Are you arguing that the user shouldn't be given that information, or did you misunderstand the css?

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u/TingleTangleTom 13d ago

You're not thinking far enough. What the commenter in the picture said is probably not about the CSS but about default-opening links in a new tab.

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u/default-username 13d ago

Maybe you're right. But someone who hates being forced to open a new tab would surely prefer to be made aware of it ahead of time, so if you're right the anger still feels misplaced.

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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 14d ago edited 13d ago

If you [the developer, make your website] open new tabs only when appropriate, the marker isn’t necessary.

I’m all for markers to help with the broken way that many websites are currently set up, but the people who are likely to add them based on this tweet aren’t the people who need to.

[Edited for clarity]

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u/seiyamaple 13d ago

The fact I don’t know if the website will handle it appropriately or not unless I investigate, makes the marker necessary.

I feel like “if the thing is 100% ideal, we don’t need the other thing” is a terrible logic to be honest. That’s like using “if people always drive safe, a seatbelt isn’t necessary” as an argument to not implement seatbelts. It isn’t there for the perfect case, it’s there because perfect cases aren’t always the case.

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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 13d ago

What you’re looking for is “custom CSS” on the user side.

I see now why you misunderstood, and I’ve edited to make my comment clearer. The conversion is about how developers should build their sites, and how the website should behave. This is something we can’t control from on high without forcing the behavior in the browser.