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User settings are now available for opening links in new tabs
Tildes has been open-source for about 4 days now, and there have already been a number of people diving in and making some great contributions. Thanks to Ivan Fonseca, we now have our first feature update from an open-source contribution, and it's a heavily-requested one: you can now choose to have links open in a new tab.
This is split into two separate options, so there are two new checkboxes on your settings page under "Open links in new tabs":
- "Topic links to other websites" - this will make the external links (from link topics) open in new tabs
- "Links to text topics and comments" - this will make links to comment pages open in new tabs, both from clicking the title on text topics and the actual comments link
Please let me know if you notice any issues or unexpected behavior with it. There are multiple other open-source contributions in progress as well, so expect some more updates soon.
Thank you for the kind comments <3
Huge shoutout to Deimos for being super helpful with code review and having really clean and easy-to-understand code!
Oh haha, there you are. I wanted to mention your Tildes username in the post, but realized that I had no idea what it was. Or I guess I should say: I had no idea it was what.
Hmm... we should maybe recognize contributors on the website, kinda like reddit does with their trophies
It's awesome that someone has added a feature.
I guess the days of "savvy users know to middle click" has died, though I guess that makes sense with mobile usage.
Yeah, on mobile it’s a PITA to click and hold then select ‘open in new tab’ every damn time and middle click is also wonky on some mice as well so providing the option to set a default new-tab behavior is never a bad thing, IMO.
my mouse's middle click is fine, but the wheel has turned into a very temperamental piece of shit, so I typically avoid touching it unless I absolutely must.
CTRL Click (windows) also does the trick.
Damn. Scrolling must be a chore. I'd get a cheap mouse before I'd put up with that for long (sorry, first-world problems and all that, but the scroll wheel is like an extension of my finger at this point).
The direction keys usually do the trick for me when it comes to scrolling, so long as the field I want to scroll is in focus. Page up and Page down when I want to go far, fast also helps.
Spacebar usually works as page down as well, that's how I do most of my scrolling.
Not all mouses support middle clicks - like, for example, mine.
And there's no such thing as a middle-click on my phone.
Right in my original comment, I address the no middle click on phone:
What mouse do you have that doesn't have middle click though?
Just a cheap no-name one I bought at a local office supplies shop.
CTRL-click also typically works (if it's useful to your workflow and on sites that don't give you an option).
Ctrl-click is a two-handed motion, which would be tricky. Meanwhile, right-click and selecting "open in new tab" from the context menu works fine.
But having a setting that automatically opens links in a new tab is better than all these options. :)
The part I'm excited about is that now clicking will both open in a new tab and switch to that new tab. Shift-middleclick would work too, but it's less convenient.
Ivan, this song's for you.
Your change is brilliant,
My love is pure.
I saw an angel
Of that I'm sure.
He smiled at me on the Tildes
They said his name was Ivan
But I won't lose no sleep on that
'Cause I've got a plan
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You're beautiful, it's true
I saw your change in a crowded place
And I don't know what to do
'Cause I'll never be with you
Yes, he caught my eye
As we walked on by
He could see from my face that I was
Flyin' high
And I don't think that I'll see him again
But we shared a moment that will last till the end
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You're beautiful, it's true
I saw your change in a crowded place
And I don't know what to do
'Cause I'll never be with you
I had my lighter out and was waving it while reading this comment.
Yay! Thank you, Ivan!
And it even works. :)
Fantastic work, Ivan. I'd read it being discussed and figured "well, maybe in a few months we'll see it; I can wait." Now, it's already here! Thanks, Deimos, for rolling it into the build (or however that's termed; I'm not a programmer) so quickly.
We need a badge or trophy or somesuch for people who contribute code.
I just checked the boxes and tested. Looks like it's working great!
I'm so used to middle clicking that I likely won't use this feature, but more options is always nice. It's exciting that more people will be able to contribute now the site is open-sourced!
Although, tapping user profile links or the favicon in the top left corner don't open new tabs.
Thank you!
And... I'd like to ask if we can support the display theme as a permanent setting. Currently it defaults to "White" each time after log-in.
I have one piece of feedback. I would like links to other websites in comments to open in a new tab as well.
existing options:
☑ Topic links to other websites
☑ Links to text topics and comments
I think that the first option should say "Topic and comment links to other websites" - or there should be a third option for just comment links. But I personally don't see the use case for wanting to open topic links in a new tab, and not comment links.
Thanks for the new feature!
Yeah, handling links inside the text of comments and topics is a little trickier. I'll add an issue for that though, and it can probably be implemented at some point as well.
OK, thanks!