Many people love weblinks to navigate to various items of interest. It is the single most utilized function on a webpage and is the epitome of user friendliness. Consequently, when a link is broken or does not work or behave properly, it can also be a source of inconvenience or even an unfriendly experience.

Many browsers have links that open the target in the same browser tab and, unless the user is aware of this behavior, many will click on the close button (X, top right corner of the window), which will close the whole browser window.  This is not what the user intended to do and now they will have to reopen the webpage manually all over again.  The user has to be aware enough to click on the back button (Left Arrow, top left of browser window), to go back to the previous window.

The following steps and screenshots describe and provide the solution to such behavior using the CTRL and SHIFT keys.

STEPS:
  1. Clicking on a weblink opens the new webpage in the same browser tab (figures 1 – 3)
  2. Hold down the CTRL key while clicking on a weblink, to open the new webpage in a NEW browser TAB (figures 4 –5)
  3. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on a weblink, to open the new webpage in a NEW browser WINDOW (figure 6)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mouse Tip: Instead of using the CTRL and SHIFT keys, you can also Right-click and choose to open in a new Tab or a new Window.