NothingEverywhere.com

A little bit of followup to this issue.

As of iOS4 there should be no problem with links containing a 'target="_blank".' They should open as normal.
Now all we need to do is wait for the iPad to get iOS4 already! :D

That is quite the predicament, let me see if I can't come up with something....

Well, are you prepared to become violently angry with me? No? Well good then.

I've noticed that in the Google Groups they wrap every link in a redirect and add a nofollow as well as a target=_blank. I can only speculate that this is done to prevent people from adding links to the discussion to improve their search rankings. As to why they new window, I'm not certain. Although this is annoying, you will be hard pressed to find any other app in the App Store which is able to provide this functionality. As it is a limitation in the api itself.

This doesn't mean that this issue will be ignored, quite the opposite. If I can come up with a decent work around that doesn't defeat the entire purpose, such as opening the google groups discussion in safari, it will be posted here.

Thanks again.

Let me start by saying that I love your app. It's just great.
The problem is that my team uses google groups to post direct links to scientific papers,
and the app does not open them. I should probably find an alternative way posting them.
Any thoughts?

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

<a href="http://www.externalwebsite.com"  onclick="this.newWindow=window.open('http://www.externalwebsite.com'); return false;">link</a>

Hello there,

Thanks for stopping by, I understand the annoyance this issue can cause, as I have experienced it myself. And as much as I hate to pass the buck, so to speak, there is nothing that can be done to rectify this issue short of intercepting the webpage and rewriting certain "mis-formatted" external links. Which personally seems somewhat unethical and is a trip down a road with a slippery slope that seems to be best left untraveled.

For clarification on the issue, the problem arises when a link wishes to open a new window by using the code:

[code]<a href="http://www.externalwebsite.com" target="_blank">link</a>[/code]

This method of using the target attribute of an anchor tag has been deprecated for some time and is not recognized by the control showing the webpage. This behavior has been submitted as a bug and has been determined to behave as intended.

If a person wishes to have a link open a new window, I would recommend that the link be formatted something to the tune of:

[code]<a href="http://www.externalwebsite.com" onclick="this.newWindow=window.open('http://www.externalwebsite.com'); return false;">link</a>[/code]

Which allows for a new window to be opened if possible, as well as providing a failsafe link if a new window cannot be opened.

Hopefully this issue does not distract from your enjoyment of xFeed and in the mean time I will keep my eye open for a clean way handle this behavior. Thanks for sharing, and if you feel my assessment is off or missing something, please let me know. I would be really happy to see this issue gone as well! :D

Hi

I believe that none of the links in a feed that try to open a new page work.
Try for instance to open a link suggesting an app that sends you to the AppStore and
you'll see what mean.