Using the Target Attribute

Alan Coleman Jun 11, 2007

General

At times you may need to launch certain links into a new window. The 'target' attribute is deprecated and is therefore not allowed when using XHTML with a strict doctype. Using this script, you will be able to keep your pages valid while also using the target attribute to open new windows.

Notes

Created by: Alan Coleman
Web Site: http://www.alancoleman.co.uk
Posted: June 11, 2007

Source Code

Paste this source code into the designated areas.

External file

Paste this code into an external JavaScript file named: targetAttribute.js

/* This script and many more are available free online at
The JavaScript Source!! http://www.javascriptsource.com
Created by: Alan Coleman | http://www.alancoleman.co.uk */
function externalLinks() {
  if (!document.getElementsByTagName) return;
  var anchors = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
  for (var i=0; i<anchors.length; i++) {
    var anchor = anchors[i];
    if (anchor.getAttribute("href") && anchor.getAttribute("rel") == "external") {
      anchor.target = "_blank";
    }
  }
}

// Multiple onload function created by: Simon Willison
// http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2004/05/26/addLoadEvent
function addLoadEvent(func) {
  var oldonload = window.onload;
  if (typeof window.onload != 'function') {
    window.onload = func;
  } else {
    window.onload = function() {
      if (oldonload) {
        oldonload();
      }
      func();
    }
  }
}

addLoadEvent(function() {
  externalLinks();
});

Head

Paste this code into the HEAD section of your HTML document.


<script type="text/javascript" src="targetAttribute.js"></script>

Body

Paste this code into the BODY section of your HTML document


<ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.webdeveloper.com/" rel="external">Web Developer</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.javascriptsource.com/" rel="external">JavaScript Source</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.webreference.com/" rel="external">WebReference.com</a></li>
</ul>

Leave a Response

(1 comment)

If the target attribute is appreciated in XHTML, than it is not in the dom, and not valid XHTML. Wouldn't this cause an error at some point, on some browser?

Shulem Jeremias Jun 15, 2007

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