Change ReferencePreviews link-clicking behaviour
Closed, ResolvedPublic2 Estimated Story Points
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Description

Background
What if a reference contains a link to another page on the same wiki? The standard behavior for such links (when shown as part of the page, not in a popup) is to open in the same browser tab, and not open a new one. Only external links open in new tabs. The definition of "external" in MediaWiki core might be a little more complicated, but essentially it's "links to another domain".

As of now, all links in a ReferencePreview popup open a new tab. This might not be what users expect. This ticket here is to discuss this, and find a solution that fits the users expectations best.

Note this ticket here is not the same as T215419, but more generic. While we think T215419 is a bug, this here is more a matter of opinion.

Relevant code: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/diffusion/EPOP/browse/master/src/ui/templates/referencePreview/referencePreview.js$61

Outcome
Follow the behaviour pattern currently implemented in T190549: Differentiate between internal, sister-wiki, interwiki, and external links visually. That means, change behaviour so that:

Internal, sister and inter-wiki links: open in same tab
External links: open in new tab

Details

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	Open only external links in new tabs	mediawiki/extensions/Popups	master	+6 -6

Customize query in gerrit

Related Objects

Mentioned Here: T190549: Differentiate between internal, sister-wiki, interwiki, and external links visually
T215419: Clicking on links to the same page inside of a reference preview

Event Timeline

thiemowmde created this task.Nov 26 2019, 1:13 PM

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Pols12 subscribed.Jan 20 2020, 5:28 PM

Adding @alexhollender as the designer for Reference Previews.

@thiemowmde how we handle links seems to be a bit inconsistent (or difficult to define), see T190549 for context. Perhaps the best way to handle this is to follow what would happen if a link within the reference itself (not the reference preview) were clicked? In this case that would mean it would open in the same tab.

Other cases to possibly consider:

link to the same project in a different language (e.g. en.wiki > ar.wiki — not sure how often this occurs)
link to a different wiki project (e.g. wikipedia > wikisource — not sure how often this occurs)
link to an external, non-wiki site (currently opens a new tab)

Thanks a lot for the detailed response! Essentially, we definitely need to reduce the amount of new tabs that open. Good to hear we agree on that. We will continue discussing this within the WMDE-TechWish.

Charlie_WMDE moved this task from Incoming to IncomingTCB on the WMDE-Design board.Apr 6 2020, 11:15 AM

ECohen_WMDE subscribed.Jun 22 2020, 3:12 PM

Lena_WMDE moved this task from Backlog to Before Default on the Reference Previews board.Oct 14 2020, 10:10 AM

We have decided to follow the behaviour pattern currently implemented in T190549: Differentiate between internal, sister-wiki, interwiki, and external links visually. That means:

Internal, sister and inter-wiki links: open in same tab
External links: open in new tab

Lena_WMDE updated the task description. (Show Details)Oct 19 2020, 8:08 AM

Lena_WMDE renamed this task from Should links to the same site open in new tabs? to Change ReferencePreviews link-clicking behaviour.Oct 19 2020, 8:37 AM

Lena_WMDE moved this task from Before Default to In preparation on the Reference Previews board.

Lena_WMDE set the point value for this task to 2.Oct 19 2020, 9:23 AM

Lena_WMDE moved this task from In preparation to Ready for pickup on the Reference Previews board.Oct 19 2020, 9:56 AM

Change 553106 had a related patch set uploaded (by Thiemo Kreuz (WMDE); owner: Thiemo Kreuz (WMDE)):
[mediawiki/extensions/Popups@master] Open only external links in new tabs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/553106

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Oct 20 2020, 8:57 AM

Lena_WMDE added a project: WMDE-QWERTY-Sprint-2020-10-21.Oct 21 2020, 8:19 AM

Lena_WMDE moved this task from Ready for pickup to Doing on the Reference Previews board.Oct 21 2020, 8:27 AM

thiemowmde claimed this task.Oct 27 2020, 12:05 PM

thiemowmde moved this task from Sprint Backlog to Review on the WMDE-QWERTY-Sprint-2020-10-21 board.

Change 553106 merged by jenkins-bot:
[mediawiki/extensions/Popups@master] Open only external links in new tabs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/553106

awight moved this task from Review to Demo on the WMDE-QWERTY-Sprint-2020-10-21 board.Oct 28 2020, 10:00 AM

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.36-notes (1.36.0-wmf.16; 2020-11-03).Oct 28 2020, 10:00 AM

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Oct 28 2020, 10:10 AM

thiemowmde closed this task as Resolved.Nov 3 2020, 1:07 PM