prealoding and "_blank" linking

G

Guest

Karl said:
ancestral photos, there are in excess of 75! Assuming most people
interested in genalogy are not young buck it's save to assume they have dial
up modems. Why then, should they expected to reload the index file every
time they view a photo?

Once the originating page has been downloaded, it and all the object it
contains/ links to are placed in the browser's cache.
Even though you think you're saving them from having to download stuff,
you're actually having an opposite effect.

-Karl

I know that's true with modern browsers, but not with older browsers. Many of my visitors have trouble with 6th grade grammer, much less keeping up to date with browsers. And if they are sent off to another URL they may not even know how to get Back to my Web Page if they go trailing off following several links. What's wrong with making life easier for them?

Also, I don't see how it's having the "opposite affect". Please explain.

I see "_BLANK" even used on the W3C Web Pages, and thought they were supposed to be "what it's all about, Alfie", to cite a song phrase. ;-)

Not trying to put you down, Karl, you are probably a pretty sharp individual, especially in OSs and the Internet. But, I remember once asking here for someone to check out my Web Page for appearance and ease of navigation. The majority of replys came back, "Man, you need more music, flashing lights, and jazz like that! It's boring"

If not interested in genealgy, yes, it's boring as hell. No adult XXX images and the like either. ;-) It's a whole different mind set.
Username munged by FixNews
 
R

rf

I know that's true with modern browsers, but not with older browsers. Many
of my visitors have trouble with 6th grade grammer, much less keeping up to
date with browsers.

What are you talking about? I don't know exactly when caching was invented
but I'll bet it was pre version 3. A browser that does not support caching
probably does not support images anyway.
And if they are sent off to another URL they may not even know how to get
Back to my Web Page if they go trailing off following several links. What's
wrong with making life easier for them?

Oh come on now. The back button is the second thing a user learns how to
use.

Somebody here a few weeks ago reported on experiments done with typical
"users". The typical user becomes disorientated when the back button becomes
broken, exactly what happens when a new window is opened.
Also, I don't see how it's having the "opposite affect". Please explain.

You may be downloading stuff the user is never going to use.
I see "_BLANK" even used on the W3C Web Pages,

Still doesn't make it good. There are lots of things on W3C pages that are
not good.

Cheers
Richard.
 
K

Kris

Chris Morris said:
I had a web application [1] which was basically a (potentially)
long form. Information related to filling in the form was available on
other pages.

That information should have been on the page with the form.
 
K

Karl Groves

I know that's true with modern browsers, but not with older browsers.

Do you have server log data to substantiate a claim that your visitors are
using the site with browsers that don't support caching?
AFAIK, caching goes back a looooong way
Many of my visitors have trouble with 6th grade grammer, much less keeping
up to date with browsers.

That's "G-R-A-M-M-A-R", btw
And if they are sent off to another URL they may not even know how to get
Back to my Web Page if they go trailing off following several links. What's
wrong with making life easier for them?

Apparently you know little about making things easier.

Here's a repost from my reply to a similar discussion.

"It is VERY bad to open new windows.
I work for a company that does usability testing. Let me give an example of
what a terrible idea new windows are:

Last week, we had a test with 10 participants (more than enough for a
qualitative analysis).
These 10 participants ranged in age from 25-70 and beginner to intermediate
level experience with the web. (one person was "advanced", only because he
had a hobby site)
ALL 10 participants exhibited confusion or frustration when they experienced
a new window opening - especially when they tried navigating back to where
they came from. None of them realized that a new window was even opened.
Typically, we leave it up to the user to solve their own problems. Afterall,
thats how it would be in real life. But on more than one occasion, we had to
interrupt the session to close the window for them.

The whole argument people have about using the "target=_blank" is because "I
don't want them losing my site". Well, here's a clue for people who believe
that: They get lost anyway. If you really care about them not being lost,
then don't break the back button. By opening links in the same window, at
least they can find their way back using the back button. With a new window,
you're ENSURING that they can't figure out how to get back to you."



Also, I don't see how it's having the "opposite affect". Please explain.

Your argument was that you didn't want to make them re-load another pageful
of elements just to change one picture.
However, if you take them to a *different* page with *different* elements,
then they have to load those new elements. Whereas if you'd kept it in the
same basic template, the only thing they'd have to load (thanks to caching)
is the new element (i.e. the image). This is the entire purpose for
caching. Caching was created back when people were on 1400 baud modems.
Loading web pages back then was a burden, so they made it so that once an
element was downloaded once, the browser would pull from the local rather
than remote copies.
I see "_BLANK" even used on the W3C Web Pages, and thought they were
supposed to be "what it's all about, Alfie", to cite a song phrase. ;-)

Please cite an URL for this.

-Karl
 

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