The right mouse button allows you to open links in a new window eh? Who Knew?!?

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Answers

Apropo of the current Weblog tantrum, I personal don't care what you do (I voted "I can RMB", I think), I think the fact that *you* care about it is a Good Thing, and I think you should do exactly whatever the heck you want to, confident in the knowledge that people are so split on the issue that there's not Some Other Right Thing you were overlooking. Also consider a good hot bath... *8)

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

Since we're giving opinions on this, mine is that Beth might have been happiern doing whatever pleased her to begin with with those links, not posted a poll about it, suffered over it, and then got all pissed off because she can't please everyone. See that's the trouble with trying to please everyone - it can't be done, so one may as well just please oneself and be done with it, yes?

If you tell people up front, "I am doing this for my own pleasure (and spending my own time and money doing it) but you're welcome to visit anytime, etc." then they'll rarely complain about how your site works or looks, and if they do, you can just say thanks for the input and then go your merry way, with no reason to work yourself into a snit about it.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

Oops, sorry for the typo in my email address in the previous message above - hope it doesn't freak the program out, as it appears to be a "fake" one!

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

No, the program lies about that freaking things out -- it only causes freak-outs if I try to spam all forum posters or something. I'll fix your address, though.

As for your suggestion about not trying to please everybody, that was actually how I started out -- and two people complained anyway, albeit very politely. Thus the poll. Had no one complained, I'd have gone about my merry way and never worried. Which is what I plan to do from now on.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

I never knew about the right mouse button and opening new windows either (I'm a Mac person at heart) so this was a learning experience for me, at least.

I'm sorry people complained. You really can't please all the people, etc.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

I'm a right mouse button fan myself. As far as the lynx problem, instead of using a graphic, why not a character to indicate a new window? such as the degree character °

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

Clicking and holding the mouse button over a link in Macintosh gives you the same menu you'd get if you were on a PC and right mouse clicking, by the way. So *everyone* has the option to launch their own window for new links.

And, if I may rant for a moment, the whole thing is part and parcel of the "what obligation does the user have to learn their own freaking computer and what obligation do I, the site creator, have to assume they're encephalitic idiots who are lucky to figure out how to turn on the computer in the first place?".

The web is not easy or intuitive and it's not going to be that way anytime soon. Users should be just as responsible for figuring out how to use the browser/mouse/whatever as site creators have for making a site relatively straightforward.

Ahem. Anyway. Launch your own windows - take control of your own browsing destiny. That's what I say.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999