In regards to recent bandwidth issues

May 29, 2001 4:07 PM

In regards to recent bandwidth issues: Why don't we (by we I mean Matt, and by Matt I mean Mr. Haughey) change the target of links in posts to "_new"?

That way we won't have to wait for the home page to reload when we hit 'back'.
posted by o2b to Uptime at 4:07 PM (8 comments total)

Most browsers will let you do this all by yourself. If you use IE on the PC, shift-clicking a link will open it in a new window (as will right-clicking and selecting "Open in New Window"). Other browsers have similar shortcuts.

It's a simple thing, but it will revolutionize your browsing experience, especially if you visit several weblogs daily.
posted by jkottke at 4:24 PM on May 29, 2001

that option is also available on your customize page, if you want it to happen.
posted by pnevares at 4:28 PM on May 29, 2001

ahh... the customize page, sweet. gonna do it right now.

posted by o2b at 5:42 PM on May 29, 2001

But it doesn't work for links to inside threads, only for links inside thread starters. (That make sense? I'll try again.) At least for me, when I click on 11 comments (8 new), it opens in the same window, no matter that I have "Open in a new window" checked. Does it behave differently for anyone else?
posted by rodii at 9:25 AM on May 30, 2001

Nah, it's the same for me rodii.

o2b, I don't understand how that would save much bandwidth. We'd have everybody opening up windows for every thread at once, bogging the site down even more (that's how I see things, at least).

The shift-click shortcut was one of the most useful things I've ever discovered about IE.
posted by accountingboy at 10:13 AM on May 30, 2001

Besides, when you go back to the main MeFi page, you don't have to wait for it to reload. It's in your browser cache and pops up more or less instantly.
posted by kindall at 11:10 AM on May 31, 2001

MeTa still has this in its source:

<meta http-equiv="pragma" content="nocache">
<meta http-equiv="expires" content="Thu, 1 October 1998 00:00:00 PST">

I'm pretty sure MeFi had too, until the bandwidth crisis. Well-behaved browsers will get the network copy because of that, or at least send an HTTP HEAD command.
posted by rodii at 11:30 AM on May 31, 2001

Choosing "open links in new window" in your preferences only seems to be implemented for the topic url of a post, not any custom links the poster types into the description. I've always been a big fan of shift-click anyway.
posted by tomorama at 4:14 PM on June 4, 2001