'visited' links not working for popups in netscape

[bryndyment]

Hi,

I have a link that opens a pop-up. In IE, when clicking on the link, it correctly sets the link color to "visited". However, I can't get this working in Netscape. Here are three attempts (all which work in IE, none of which work in Netscape):

<a href="javascript: void window.open( 'popup.htm', 'ignored', 'height=50, width=50' )">link 1</a>
<a href="javascript:void%20window.open('popup.htm','ignored','height=50,width=50')">link 2</a>
<a href="javascript:void" onclick="javascript: void window.open( 'popup.htm', 'ignored', 'height=50, width=50' )">link 3</a>

Ideas on how to make Netscape happy?

[rainborick]

I didn't actually see anything in your samples that I know Netscape won't accept, but

<a href="javascript:void();" onclick="javascript:window.open('popup.htm','','width=50,height=50');">pop me</a><br>

should do the trick. Older versions of Netscape wouldn't tolerate space characters in the pragma, though. Good luck!

[bryndyment]

Just checked that snippet, and it exhibits the same behavior (correctly shows 'visited' status in IE, but not Netscape...).

I've been trying to track this problem down, but it's hard to come up with Google search terms that don't return a jillion results for this guy...

[DrDoc]

Which Netscape version are you talking about?

I know that some browsers ignore a "visited" state for JavaScript controlled links (because of the dynamic possibilities).

[bryndyment]

6.22 on Windows 2000, and 7.02 on Windows XP.

The only reason I'm using window.open is to control the size of the popup... maybe I should try to use target="_top" and href="popup.htm", then have the window resize during load?

[bryndyment]

Sorry, target="_new"...

[DrDoc]

It should actually be "_blank", not "_new" ;)

_self = current frame (same as _top on a non-frame site)
_parent = parent frame (same as _top on a non-frame site)
_top = clears all frames and opens the href in the window
_blank = opens the href in a new window

[DrDoc]

I think you should do a combination of everything. That way the page will work even if JavaScript is turned off.

<a href="popup.htm" target="_blank" onclick="window.open('popup.htm','','width=50,height=50');return false;">link text</a>

Causes the page to open in a new window if JavaScript is turned off
Causes the JavaScript to be executed instead. return false will cancel the normal link behavior (i.e. you will not get two windows with the same page)

[DrDoc]

And, I actually think that will make it work in Netscape too ;)

...haven't tested it though, so it might not.

[bryndyment]

Nice code, DrDoc, and, yes... it works* in Netscape, too, in terms of the "visited" behavior.

*almost... you have to do a page refresh to see the "visited" status of the link. Close enough for me.

Thanks.

[bryndyment]

Just testing that code on Macintosh, and notice that, unlike IE/Netscape on Windows, "window." is needed before "open()". Just wondering if this is a bug on Macintosh.

If, however, your onclick handler calls your own function ("myOpen()"), then it's fine to just have "open()" in THAT function. Just not directly in the onclick handler.

(Kinda minor.)