Javascript - Open Link in New Tab (SAME WINDOW)

Question

I realize there are a couple questions already on SO for this topic, but they all seem to be quite old....just trying to get an up-to-date answer for this:

Is the standard way of opening a new tab (within the same browser window) still:

window.open('url', '_blank'); window.focus();

???

Also, I've read that it is dependent on the users config of their browser (whether the new page opens in a new tab or a new window, and also whether the new tab/window gets the focus)....I would like the focus to remain on the original tab, but I am more concerned with it opening a tab in the same browser window (keeping focus is just a bonus).

So is there a way to read/get this setting in new browsers? (chrome, ff, ie) And possibly notify the user to change their settings if they have it set to open in a new window?

Fabio Milheiro · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-09 17:56:50Z

12

I have had great success with

<a target='_blank' >

edited Aug 9, 2014 at 17:56

Fabio Milheiro

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answered Oct 31, 2013 at 19:50

Giganticus

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Mike Causer · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-30 16:56:02Z

Using target="_blank" is favourable.

eg. in Chrome, anchors with target="_blank" open a new tab, however, window.open opens a whole new window.

I tried a few experiments to replace window.open with target="_blank".

Blocked by popup blocker

// create an anchor, add to body, trigger click var a = document.createElement('a'); a.setAttribute('href', 'http://google.com'); a.setAttribute('target', '_blank'); document.body.appendChild(a); a.click(); // hijack first anchor, change href, trigger click var a = document.getElementsByTagName('a')[0]; a.setAttribute('href', 'http://google.com'); a.setAttribute('target', '_blank'); a.click(); // hijack first anchor that has target=_blank, change href, trigger click var a = $('a[target="_blank"]')[0]; a.setAttribute('href', 'http://google.com'); a.click();

Allowed by popup blocker

// hijack first anchor that has target=_blank, change href, next document click triggers it var a = $('a[target="_blank"]')[0]; a.setAttribute('href', 'http://google.com'); $(document).click(function(){ $('a[target="_blank"]')[0].click(); }); // create an anchor, add to body, next document click triggers it var a = document.createElement('a'); a.setAttribute('href', 'http://google.com'); a.setAttribute('target', '_blank'); document.body.appendChild(a); $(document).click(function(){ a.click(); });

It seems as long as the popups are triggered by a user interaction, the popup blocker allows it.

Mozilla's documentation on window.open:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/window.open

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