Fix One Thing: Stop Giving People Tabs They Didn’t Ask For

Stop deciding how other people should use their browsers.

I know why you set that link to open in a new tab.

The link goes to another website, and you want people to be able to get back to yours. Opening it in a new tab seems helpful. Your website stays open, they get what they eed, everybody wins. Right?

Nope. The person who clicks the “Back” button and can’t figure out why it won’t take them back. That person now has a problem you created while trying to help. And that’s only the beginning of the potential obstacles you just created for your site’s users.

“But…I like opening links in new tabs!” you say. Well, open them in new tabs! I do it, too. Your browser gives you ways to make that choice. The trouble starts when we decide that everyone else should browse the way we do.

Someone who follows a regular link can choose to open it in another tab. Someone who follows a link that forces a new tab has already had that decision made for them. And they may not realize it happened.

You’re creating multiple usability issues

Nielsen Norman Group identifies disorientation, extra clutter, and the effort of managing multiple tabs as reasons to avoid forcing them on people. Its research found that mobile users were particularly frustrated when they couldn’t use “Back” to return to the previous page. In short, forcing links to open in new tabs is a hot mess usability-wise.

Think about following a library link to a museum’s website to check its hours. You find the answer and want to return to the library page. But “Back” doesn’t take you there, because you’re now in a totally different tab.

If you noticed the new tab, fine. If you didn’t, you get to figure that out before continuing with whatever you were actually trying to do. Checking museum hours should not require browser troubleshooting.

You’re creating multiple accessibility issues

Unexpected changes can make a website harder to use, particularly when someone can’t easily see what changed. People with disabilities use tabs. The issue is whether they get to control what happens, or have to deal with a surprise your website arranged for them.

W3C’s accessibility guidance on new windows and tabs explains that opening them without warning can disorient people who have difficulty perceiving visual content and some people with cognitive disabilities. The person may not understand that they need to switch tabs to return to where they were.

Someone using screen magnification may miss a new window opening outside the area they can see. Nielsen Norman Group specifically calls out this problem.

And a screen reader announcing a new window after someone activates the link isn’t the same as telling them beforehand. WebAIM recommends giving people advance notice so they know what to expect.

An external link doesn’t need special treatment just because it’s external

“It goes to another website” is probably the explanation I hear most often for opening a new tab. But why should the ownership of the destination determine how someone’s browser behaves?

A person might want to check something quickly and come back. They might want to spend the next hour using the resource you linked to. They might want to compare it with three other resources. You don’t know.

Nielsen Norman Group advises against making this decision solely on whether a link is external or leads to a particular file type. What matters is the person’s task and what they need to do next.

And if the concern is that people will leave your website? Sometimes leaving your website is the successful outcome. You linked them to the database, organization, or service they needed. They went there. Good job. You don’t need to keep a tab open as a souvenir.

TL;DR: Let people manage their own tabs. They already have enough things to keep track of.