How to make HTML open a hyperlink in another window or tab?

Question

This is a line for a hyperlink in HTML:

<a href="http://www.starfall.com/">Starfall</a>

Thus, if I click on "Starfall" my browser - I am using FireFox - will take me to that new page and the contents of my window will change. I wonder, how can I do this in HTML so that the new page is opened in a new window instead of changing the previous one? Is there such a way in HTML?

And if yes, is there a way to open the requested page in another tab (not another window) of my browser?

Frank · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-26 18:34:28Z

140

<a href="http://www.starfall.com/" target="_blank">Starfall</a>

Whether it opens in a tab or another window though is up to how a user has configured her browser.

answered Feb 26, 2010 at 18:34

Frank

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2 Comments

bta Over a year ago

Not all browsers support tabs and in those that do, pages opening in a new tab vs. a new window is a user-configurable setting. There is no current way to specify a link needs to open in a tab vs. a window.

M.C. Over a year ago

remember that the target attribute has to be declared AFTER the href attribute

Turnkey · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-25 17:40:23Z

109

Simplest way is to add a target tag.

<a href="http://www.starfall.com/" target="Starfall">Starfall</a>

Use a different value for the target attribute for each link if you want them to open in different tabs, the same value for the target attribute if you want them to replace the other ones.

edited Jul 25, 2013 at 17:40

answered Feb 26, 2010 at 18:35

Turnkey

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3 Comments

GSto Over a year ago

+1 for pointing out that the target doesn't have to be '_blank'.

AeroCross Over a year ago

It's worth noting that this is a valid HTML5.

Vnge Over a year ago

What do you mean by 'name'?

jldupont · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-26 18:34:05Z

9

use target="_blank"

<a target='_blank' href="http://www.starfall.com/">Starfall</a>

answered Feb 26, 2010 at 18:34

jldupont

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Comments

Jason · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-26 18:34:28Z

8

You should be able to add

target="_blank"

like

<a href="http://www.starfall.com/" target="_blank">Starfall</a>

answered Feb 26, 2010 at 18:34

Jason

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-04 15:43:02Z

7

The target attribute is your best way of doing this.

<a href="http://www.starfall.com" target="_blank">

will open it in a new tab or window. As for which, it depends on the users settings.

<a href="http://www.starfall.com" target="_self">

is default. It makes the page open in the same tab (or iframe, if that's what you're dealing with).
The next two are only good if you're dealing with an iframe.

<a href="http://www.starfall.com" target="_parent">

will open the link in the iframe that the iframe that had the link was in.

<a href="http://www.starfall.com" target="_top">

will open the link in the tab, no matter how many iframes it has to go through.

edited Apr 4, 2016 at 15:43

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 3, 2015 at 19:22

hellol11

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1 Comment

hellol11 Over a year ago

how do i use that colored text in everyone elses examples?

The Andyman · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-03 17:07:18Z

6

the target = _blank is will open in new tab or windows based on browser setting.

To force a new window use javascript onclick all three parts are needed. url, a name, and window width and height size or it will just open in a new tab.

<a onclick="window.open('http://www.starfall.com/','name','width=600,height=400')">Starfall</a>

answered Apr 3, 2015 at 17:07

The Andyman

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Comments

patrick · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-14 22:43:52Z

5

You can also accomplish this by adding the following to your page's header:

<base target="_blank">

This will make ALL links on your page open in a new tab

answered May 14, 2016 at 22:43

patrick

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Comments

Eric Aya · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-18 16:34:08Z

5

Since web is evolving quickly, some things changes with time. For security issues, you might want to use the rel="noopener" attribute in conjuncture with your target="_blank".

Like stated in Google Dev Documentation, the other page can access your window object with the window.opener property. Your external link should looks like this now:

<a href="http://www.starfall.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Starfall</a>

edited Feb 18, 2019 at 16:34

Eric Aya

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answered Feb 18, 2019 at 15:58

JoeMecPak

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1 Comment

ContextCue Over a year ago

<a href="http://www.starfall.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Starfall</a> these days it seem to be best practice to have both

scottmoo · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-19 21:34:49Z

1

below example with target="_blank" works for Safari and Mozilla

<a href="http://www.starfall.com" `target="_blank"`>

Using target="new"worked for Chrome

<a href="http://www.starfall.com" `target="new"`>

answered Apr 19, 2016 at 21:34

scottmoo

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1 Comment

Farside Over a year ago

what distinguishes your answer among dozen of others?

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