just because you can do something doesn't mean you should

Rant: today I tripped over yet another busted web site that hasn't mastered the basic tool of the web - the hyperlink. There I am glancing at the Night Watch screenshots and as is my habit middle-clicked all 4 shots to pop them up in new tabs, knowing they'll take a little while to load and intending to read the text while that happens.

What transpired? I have four new tabs named "(Untitled)". This is The Clue.

The links attached to the screenshot thumbnails say:

javascript:popUp('press/174/nightwatch_shot25_uk.jpg')

embedded in this page is some pointless javascript function to open a new window containing the screenshot, an ad banner and a pointless "close this window" link, also javascript.

So what have we here? Another idiot web designer who thinks he/she knows what the reader should be doing.

Of course, what should be on that link is this:

http://www.worthplaying.com/kiwi_popup.php?img=press/174/nightwatch_shot26_uk.jpg

or even this:

http://www.worthplaying.com/press/174/nightwatch_shot26_uk.jpg

Why? Because the reader has their own ideas. If I want a new window I can make one thank you. If I want to point a scraper at the pager to grab the shots, perhaps to view them conveniently in some handy image view I like, a plain http: URL can be grabbed trivially. Maybe I'm using a text web browser, or have javascript disabled (since it's widely abused). A plain URL is portable and flexible.

If the web author wants to hint that I should get a new window he can always put a target="_new" tag in the anchor. Most browsers will open a new window for that, in some form or other.

Which brings me to the new window itself. As mentioned earlier, it's got a "Close this window" link. What a pointless waste. The user already has a way to close the window, usually at least two ways: they can press the browser's close-window button or they can use their window manager's close-window facility (the X in the top right for most desktops, Alt-Delete for me). And the beauty of both these things is that the user's hands already know how to do it, without thought. The "close window" link is a pointless, annoying and insulting waste of space.

I take it as a sign that the web author is incompetent. It at least makes me feel better than thinking they're trying to alienate their readers.