Hyperlinks - New Window or Same?

[azap]

When you are linking to external sites do you make it in a new window / tab or just go straight to the new site /blog in current browser?

I used to religiously do new tab but now I'm finding if someone wants to visit elsewhere they can and if they want a new window / tab they can do that too.

I've just started getting sick of always having a new window open. Fortunately I'm usually on FAST machines so I have dozens of windows open. I was on a slower machine and let me tell you for the time to load the new tab / browser I just ended up hitting X.

I also think out of etiquettes it's better to give the viewer the option. Whats your practice and what are your thoughts?

[tech2]

It is better to have it in new window., in that way the visitors will not bee lost in finding your blog page again,

[Deltamac]

I used to set my links to open in a new window/tab but that was until I came across an article that warned bloggers against doing it. Apparently, links that open in new windows/tabs are "spammy", and readers don't like it.

I wasn't convinced, until I read another article which mentioned something like, if readers wanted a particular link to open in a new window/tab, he could easily do it by right-clicking on the link, or by clicking the scrolling button on the mouse.

Then I thought, since it's so easy to open links in new windows/tabs these days, why don't I let me readers decide?

[james_ashby]

I always open in a new window so the original user never loses the page he was on. Most sites follow this methodology and I think you should too!