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The other day in a web accessibility training session, I admitted that I hate it when a link on a web page automatically opens a new window. I want to be the one who decides when a window’s opened. At this point, a couple people in the group rolled their eyes, no doubt thinking “oh give me a break, you control freak!”

So I got to thinking: why do I care?

I used to browse with several windows open at a time, dragging links from one to another, reading one page while another one or two loaded. Even then, with five or six browser windows on my desktop, a new window popping open unexpectedly was a little irrititation. Just as irritating as pop-up or pop-under ads.

Then tabbed browsing appeared in Mozilla (hit control-T and you’ll see what I mean), and my browsing habits changed: I still read several pages at a time, but now on different tabs within the same window. Now it annoys me even more when designers take it upon themselves to control my browsing habits. Thankfully, with every milestone release it gets easier to configure Mozilla to prohibit that sort of nastiness.

Still, though, why does it bother me so much? It’s a relatively minor thing, right? The key, I think, is that a window popping open is an unexpected behavior. There are times when I expect a window to open: when I click a link to enter my ZIP/postal code to customize site content; when I click a link on a television program title, expecting to get a brief description of the episode. In those cases I expect a new window to open — to provide or allow me to input a short bit of information — so it’s perfectly fine that it does. The web page behaves in a predictable way. No surprises.

Yesterday I read Joel Spolsky‘s User Interface Design for Programmers, and the reason for this became clear: it is an important principle of UI design that (I quote Joel here) “A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would.” I’m irritated by windows popping open when I don’t think they will, but don’t give it a second thought when I expect them to.

If you’re going to do something so unusual as to open a new window, you’d better have an extremely compelling reason. If your reason is compelling enough, the user should expect the window to open.

Back to the book. I highly recommend it. It’s a quick read, it’s entertaining, and it’s packed with lots of good stuff. Through most of the book, I kept excitedly jabbing my finger at the page, exclaiming, “yes! yes! He’s right on!” For every situation he describes, I can think of a real-world scenario that matches up. I learned a whole lot in just a couple hours. And now I feel ready for that next meeting about button text. <shudder />

You may have read it. It’s classic: Web Pages aren’t Printed on Paper. Every now and then I come across an article that either shakes to the core my way of thinking, or that I think everyone should read because I hope it’ll have that effect on them. Something that sums up so well what I’ve been trying to say for a long time. This is one of those.

One of the major issues in accessibility is also one of the broader topic of usability: you have to give up the idea of having control over the page, break down your assumptions about how your users are experiencing your page. Because I can guarantee you that someone’s doing something that you didn’t expect that will break your carefully constructed design. It may turn out that something that you’ve done is breaking their experience, making it impossible for them to access your content.

The Web accessibility training session that I helped lead today got me thinking about this.

The training went well, I think. We spent more time than I expected going over what I thought was some pretty basic stuff with CSS. Still, there was some good discussion. I am continually amazed/dismayed by the level of resistance from faculty that my campus-based cohorts face in attempting to address accessibility concerns in online instructional materials. Somehow making web pages accessible to students with disabilities becomes an issue of academic freedom. Disgusting.

Was the same argument raised with regard to wheelchair ramps? We’ve changed our physical architecture to ensure that the disabled/impaired have access, now we’re turning our attention to our electronic, information architecture. It’s the same damn thing.

If nothing else, MnSCU has a new set of accessibility guidelines. Right now I consider them in version 0.9. With some changes that I’ll make over the next week, we’ll get to version 1.0.

My friend Jim pointed out to me that I’d incorrectly stated the other day that -30 degrees Fahrenheit is -1 Celsius. I should have known better, but foolishly trusted the online conversion tool that I used. I should have just done the math: -30F == -34.4C.

At long last, Mozilla 0.9.9 has been released. New stuff includes SOAP support.

Use a Mozilla mirror site to download.

If I seem rather quiet here over the next week or two, it’s because I’m crazy busy preparing to move, and writing a new set of web accessibility guidelines for work (modelled on the excellent State of Illinois Web Accessibility Standards). Mostly done with the latter, a ways to go for the former. Please forgive my silence.

Minnesotans have a rather irritating tendency to pride themselves on being able to tolerate all sorts of winter weather. (I must admit at the outset that I’ve lived in Minnesota all my life and am hardly an exception.) We delight in warning newcomers of the harsh winters they will face, secretly hoping that if they can’t handle the winters then maybe they’ll leave. We grumble the first few snowfalls of the season, faced with people who suddenly can’t remember how to drive. We mock those poor souls in warmer climes — you know, the ones who normally have to deal with things like hurricanes — who run for cover when the temperature dips below 40 (Fahrenheit) or a half-inch of snow falls. “You call that cold? Try 30 below!” (That’s -34.4 for you sensible folks who think in Celsius).

This excessive pride is usually accompanied by an equally irritating tendency to complain about the weather. Yes, we pride ourselves on the weather we face, but we’re not happy about it. If it’s sunny too long, we gripe about our lawns not getting the water they need. If it snows, we bitch about having to shovel. If it rains, we can’t wait for the sun. (By no means do I think that any of this is unique to Minnesotans. I’m just saying.)

I long ago tired of this meterological machismo and have tried to excise it from my behavior. I decided a few years back that things would be a whole lot easier and I’d be a more pleasant human being if I just plain liked weather. Doesn’t matter whether it rains or shines, sleets or snows, I like it. I don’t grit my teeth and bear it, I don’t sneer disdainfully at those who can’t handle it, I just like it. Or at least I try. Weather is a delightful reminder that I am alive in the world.

Nevertheless, I have to admit that I’ve felt somewhat cheated by the mild winter we’ve been having. It just doesn’t seem right when it’s hovering around 10F/-12C there’s no snow on the ground. It goes against a lifetime of expectations. So boy oh boy, am I glad to see that we’re finally getting some snow. Snow!

Nanoweb: a web server written in PHP. Why? This is my favorite part: “I found the idea of using a language mostly aimed at web scripting to write a web server was quite funny.”

All of a sudden I need to know a whole lot about LDAP. I wasn’t too impressed by what I was finding on the Web so was all prepared to buy a book. Not a big deal, really, since I dedicate a certain amount of income to technical books anyway. But then I remembered: I have a Safari subscription! And the book I wanted, Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services, is available through Safari. Perfect. I may eventually buy the book, but here’s a great way to familiarize myself with LDAP fast.

I’m quite impressed with Safari. It’s the most sound idea for publishing electronic books that I’ve seen.

I reported back in January that scientists had identified the color of the cosmos. Turns out that the One True Color is actually more of a beige. No wonder setting my desktop to that greenish thing didn’t give me superpowers.

A list of user agent strings on allnetdevices.com. And Microsoft has a Mobile Developer site, including an article on “Designing Web Sites for the Internet Explorer for Pocket PC.” I thought I’d mentioned that here, but it looks like I forgot.