The UX principles take in consideration the way that the web page will load. It is not about the speed but it is about the loading method. In fact, when you click on a link, the targeted web page loads according to a definite method. Actually, it is about the browser ability to display web pages according to particular parameters. This loading option may impact the UX score, therefore and possibly, may have some impacts on the website popularity, visibility or even the website success. In order to determine the importance of this factor on the web design constraints, the few next lines are about the common loading methods and their respective properties.

Loading new web pages triggers:

The new web pages are triggered by definite actions that can be taken by the users, or as the result of a particular script running on the page.  In fact, the action can be the use of a clickable element, which is an element with a <a href=” URL”></a> property. It can be:

  • An anchor text.
  • An image.
  • A form button.

The scripts that can induce the loading of the new page are mainly:

  • The Refresh attribute of the HEAD tag.
  • Definite scripts belonging to programming languages (PHP, JavaScript…)

Loading new web pages options:

Loading a new web page has actually two main options.

  • Same tab: which refers to the same active page.
  • New tab on the same window: the browser doesn’t load a different window for the new web page.

The HTML attribute that allows specifying the location of the new web page is the attribute target.

With these two options, there are some other sub-options that are interesting to explore.

  • The new page is loaded in the same frame; target=”_parent”.
  • The new page is loaded as a new frame; target=”_top”.
  • The new page is loaded in a specified frame on the targeted location; target=”frame name”.

The text will try to detail the two main options only.

Loading in the same tab:

Loading the new page in the same location, i.e in the same tab is achieved by leaving the target attribute empty, or not specifying it at all. This is the default option also qualified by _self.

<a href=” URL” target=”_self”> the link</a> equally <a href=” URL” > the link</a>

Loading a new tab:

Loading the new page web in a new tab, but on the same browser window is achieved by assigning the _blank value to the target attribute.

<a href=” URL” target=”_blank”> the link</a>

Conclusion:

Loading new web pages is a process that has to be taken seriously by a freelance web designer Singapore. In fact, the new page to load should have a normal behavior. Otherwise, the browser may consider it as a pop-up and then it may block it. If the built-in pop-up blocker allows the page to load, the users may still think of it as unwanted content and may discard it. Besides, the loading time of the new web page may be reduced if it exploits the already loaded elements. This improves the website appreciation.