Getting rid of target="_blank"

[avram]

OK, found a way to keep links from opening new windows in Safari. Here it is:

Step 1: Install GreaseKit. (GreaseKit is the Safari port of Greasemonkey, a Firefox add-on that lets you run arbitrary JavaScript code to modify web pages as they download.)

Step 2: Install _blank Must Die, a userscript that strips the target="_blank" attributes out of link tags.

Step 3: Quit and relaunch Safari.

Step 4: Sigh with relief when Twitter links no longer spawn new windows.

Note for Firefox users: That userscript in Step 2 ought to work for you as well, but you don’t need to bother, since you’ve got some useful features baked right into your browser, no add-ons required.

Microsoft Internet Explorer users, I dunno. If you guys cared about your web experience, you wouldn’t be using MSIE.

Update: Just discovered that the GreaseKit _blank Must Die hack will mess up Google Calendar. The fix is to disable the hack for Google, like so:

1. In Safari, from the GreaseKit menu, choose “Manage Scripts…”
2. In the Manage Scripts dialog, select “_blank Must Die” from the list on the left of the box. (Don’t turn the check-box off, just click the name “_blank Must Die” to select it.)
3. See the “Exclude” box? Click the “Add” button next to it.
4. In that new line that was just created in the Exclude box, type:
   *.google.com/*
5. Close the Manage Scripts box. Maybe you need to quit and restart Safari, too.

Comments

[mister-wolf.livejournal.com]

What, so people don't like target=_blank? I guess I can just ctrl-click, but I'm not always done with the page I was reading when I click a link

[ckd]

I hate it. If I want to open a link in a new window or tab, I'll do it. I can just middle-click in most browsers, so it's not even like it's any more work.

[redbird]

That's right, people don't like it. Especially early in the morning, I don't like discovering that "back" doesn't work and I need to close the new tab by hand, or use the mouse to get back where I was.

[avram]

Without target=_blank: Clicking a link loads in the current tab; Command-click (control-click for Windows and Linux peeps) loads in a new tab. Command-option-click loads in a new window, which I almost never do, but the option's there for me. My choice.

With target=_blank: Clicking spawns a new fucking window, which is pretty much never what I want. Right-clicking brings up a menu that lets me load in a new tab, but I can't just load in the current window if I do happen to be done with what I'm currently looking at. So one option is gone, another requires more work, and the default option is the one I like least.