Regarding netiquette, I learned back in the 80s that most people don't have a clue about netiquette and I pretty much just take things with a grain of salt. If I didn't, my head would explode. Regarding offsite links: Whenever you go to an offsite link, you should have it open in a new window. Two reasons for this which I learned through work and web workshops I had to take through work. The first (and most important) is so that you protect yourself from possible litigation in case someone thinks they are still on your site and are offended by something on the offsite link. Sometimes porno sites will purchase a DNS before the rightful owners have a chance to do so and your user might click on a URL that you have on your site that you think goes to a simple census listing and see something really nasty. (We had this happen to one of our customers and they got sued.) By having all offsite links open in a new window, you can state the argument that all offsite links are in new windows. You can even add a dislaimer to the site that states this and be completely protected. (I even have the archives open in a new window to be on the safe side.) Of course, we should all check our links constantly to ensure this doesn't happen, but some sites out there (Bell County, TX, for instance) have over 5,000 links and there is no way that they can check this. The second reason is a little more logical. By opening in a new window, you keep your website in the other window in the background so that your user can still access your site and not get lost. This is good for marketing as well as you want your user to use your site as the gateway and not get lost on some tangent like Cyndi's List and forget your site ever existed. I know it can seem frustrating. I have Pop Up Killer because I hate pop up advertisements. However, if the pop up windows are information that I want, then I have no problem at all and prefer it because I don't want to lose my originating website. I feel for you with the cold. The allergies in Austin are just about at maximum according to my allergy counter and everybody here is miserable. I am dreading Cedar Fever this year. Cheers! Kimm > -----Original Message----- > From: Connie Snyder [mailto:cjsnyder@alltel.net] > Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 10:46 PM > To: STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [STATE-COORD] Fwd: {not a subscriber} Deep Linking our > Websites > > > Kimm Antell wrote: > > > Unfortunately, there is no law that states that a person has to > give credit > > for a link to an off page. I really don't see this as a > problem. They are > > not copying the content into their website. They are simply providing a > > link to an off-web site. I have the same thing on my website. > Just because > > s/he sells something doesn't make a difference. Everyone has a right to > > provide links to offsites. S/he should have these links open > up in a new > > window like I do on my sites, but once again, there is no law > stating that > > they have to do this. Until we get a law out there, this discussion is > > pretty moot. > > I guess I've been around too long. Not giving proper credit used to be > considered to be bad netiquette. To me, it's a matter of common > courtesy even if > it's not a law. > > I also don't like it when a link opens in a new window. It > doesn't always mean > that the link has gone to a different site, so that doesn't tell > me anything and > just bugs me when I have a whole slew of windows opened up at one time. > > Connie > (going off to nurse my cold/allergy/virus or whatever it is that > my husband > brought home from work. Maybe I'll be in a better mood tomorrow.) > > > --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.521 / Virus Database: 319 - Release Date: 9/23/2003

I really hate for everything to open up in a new window. It runs me out of windows too fast. The ABC site, http://www.abc.com/ is really bad about it. I am on library machines, so they don't have an excess of disk space. Just my opinion. David On Mon, 29 Sep 2003, Kimm Antell wrote: > Regarding netiquette, I learned back in the 80s that most people don't have > a clue about netiquette and I pretty much just take things with a grain of > salt. If I didn't, my head would explode. > > Regarding offsite links: > > Whenever you go to an offsite link, you should have it open in a new window. > Two reasons for this which I learned through work and web workshops I had to > take through work. > > The first (and most important) is so that you protect yourself from possible > litigation in case someone thinks they are still on your site and are > offended by something on the offsite link. Sometimes porno sites will > purchase a DNS before the rightful owners have a chance to do so and your > user might click on a URL that you have on your site that you think goes to > a simple census listing and see something really nasty. (We had this happen > to one of our customers and they got sued.) By having all offsite links > open in a new window, you can state the argument that all offsite links are > in new windows. You can even add a dislaimer to the site that states this > and be completely protected. (I even have the archives open in a new window > to be on the safe side.) Of course, we should all check our links > constantly to ensure this doesn't happen, but some sites out there (Bell > County, TX, for instance) have over 5,000 links and there is no way that > they can check this. > > The second reason is a little more logical. By opening in a new window, you > keep your website in the other window in the background so that your user > can still access your site and not get lost. This is good for marketing as > well as you want your user to use your site as the gateway and not get lost > on some tangent like Cyndi's List and forget your site ever existed. > > I know it can seem frustrating. I have Pop Up Killer because I hate pop up > advertisements. However, if the pop up windows are information that I want, > then I have no problem at all and prefer it because I don't want to lose my > originating website. > > I feel for you with the cold. The allergies in Austin are just about at > maximum according to my allergy counter and everybody here is miserable. I > am dreading Cedar Fever this year. > > Cheers! > Kimm > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Connie Snyder [mailto:cjsnyder@alltel.net] > > Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 10:46 PM > > To: STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com > > Subject: Re: [STATE-COORD] Fwd: {not a subscriber} Deep Linking our > > Websites > > > > > > Kimm Antell wrote: > > > > > Unfortunately, there is no law that states that a person has to > > give credit > > > for a link to an off page. I really don't see this as a > > problem. They are > > > not copying the content into their website. They are simply providing a > > > link to an off-web site. I have the same thing on my website. > > Just because > > > s/he sells something doesn't make a difference. Everyone has a right to > > > provide links to offsites. S/he should have these links open > > up in a new > > > window like I do on my sites, but once again, there is no law > > stating that > > > they have to do this. Until we get a law out there, this discussion is > > > pretty moot. > > > > I guess I've been around too long. Not giving proper credit used to be > > considered to be bad netiquette. To me, it's a matter of common > > courtesy even if > > it's not a law. > > > > I also don't like it when a link opens in a new window. It > > doesn't always mean > > that the link has gone to a different site, so that doesn't tell > > me anything and > > just bugs me when I have a whole slew of windows opened up at one time. > > > > Connie > > (going off to nurse my cold/allergy/virus or whatever it is that > > my husband > > brought home from work. Maybe I'll be in a better mood tomorrow.) > > > > > > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.521 / Virus Database: 319 - Release Date: 9/23/2003 > > > David W. Morgan dmorgan@efn.org Honolulu Hawaii SC - TXGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~txgenweb/ FM - http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/tx/txfiles.htm ** http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dmorgan/