I think the links should open in the same window (like they do here on HN) instead of in a new tab/window. If I want a separate tab, I can Cmd+click and Browsers don't have the reverse option for opening in the same window.
So many comments debating the philosophy around this. I like it when these type of sites open a new tab for me. Is there a way to just code in a toggle between the two link opening types?
This is the type of thing I have to fight against daily. You already have both action available - left click or middle click. Don't bloat your software with band aids for problems that don't exist - just train your users better.
The reason it’s a debate is because both interfaces / flows are broken.
Back/forth, new tab, currently open tab switch, bookmark, needs to be redesigned from first principal. They all approximate different versions of similar intents.
Kind of like a subset of what appears here but of course concentrated on blogs not other sources of news.
Looking at other comments some people are definitely going to prefer each link to open in its own tab.
One thing I see is because so many blogs are no different than a dead website for anybody using full security and privacy on their browser.
You wouldn't want your main page to turn into a dud every time somebody clicked on one of these dud blogs which are randomly scattered among the good links.
OTOH if you curated the blogs which are universal good links separately from the ones requiring the least bit of friction or compromise to security or privacy, that would be something I haven't seen anyone else do.
And it's needed now more than ever, plus the need's only going to increase.
I agree, that would be a good compromise and I would do it in a heartbeat, but that's NOT the procedure. More is required:
>Participating
>You log in with a Fediverse account (Mastodon, Pixelfed, GoToSocial, and others). If you don't have one, mastodon.social is free and takes two minutes.
For non-techies like me, Fediverse accounts and mastodon.social are non-starters.
>For non-techies like me, Fediverse accounts and mastodon.social are non-starters.
You can literally sign up for a Mastodon account on mastodon.social or most other instances through the web like any other website. It's no more difficult than a Reddit account.
1) literally millions of people, many of whom are non-techies, have figured it out, just like they figured out what "subreddits" were and what "tweets" were and the specific quirks of numerous other platforms.
2) yes the people who own servers get to decide what happens on them. That isn't a feature (or bug) of the fediverse its just the way networks work. But if you don't want to join an instance you can get one hosted on a service like masto.host (the one I use) for very little.
Sign-in is only needed to interact with the site, like voting or hiding entries. If you want to suggest your own blog, just send a mail to suggest@bubbles.town as described in the FAQ.
> For non-techies like me, Fediverse accounts and mastodon.social are non-starters.
For technical people these things should be non starters as well. It is a group of people who should be acutely aware of everything wrong with social media, and many are not.
From: Benjamin Behnke <ben@viermal.be>
Date: June 17, 2026 at 12:32:25 PM EDT
To: josephstirt@gmail.com
Subject: Re: I am submitting my blog for your consideration: https://bookofjoe2.blogspot.com/
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for reaching out. Your post frequency is too high to be listed on Bubbles. You are publishing 3 articles per day. To quote from the criteria listed in the FAQ:
Moderate pace. Not more than one or two posts per day on average. Bubbles is for writers, not content machines.
I hope you'll understand. Let me know if you plan to slow down :)
Yes. Just so. From 2004 to 2014 I published 8 (eight) posts daily, every day, one minute after the hour. They appeared at 8:01/9:01/10:01/11:01 am; 12:01/1:01/2:01/3:01 pm.
In general, it's better not to force an action onto users. You might prefer things opening in a new tab, but you always have that option. If it's forced on users, it is frustrating for those who would prefer that not to happen.
Yes there is a right and wrong. The default browser behavior is the design that every user expects, so unless there is a very strong argument for a different way, this is the _right_ design.
> Exactly. This is a design choice and there’s no right or wrong here.
I don't agree. If your design choice forces a user flow that is surprising, awkward, and redundant then it's definitely the wrong choice. It's still a call to be made by the design team, though.
You don't need to write one? Just write a ublock origin rule, use grease monkey or whatever is used nowadays.
Or just configure your browser to ignore the target param, eg browser.link.open_newwindow_restriction 0 in about:config
The fact I've gotten so many down votes for my previous comment really nails the point down how HN isn't really used by technical people anymore. It's mostly idiots with opinions.
That's a good user setting, but as opening in the same tab is the default browser behaviour then it should really stay that way. Opening in a new tab takes control away from the user.
I do as well, but I think it's good practice to put something like in a user preference setting somewhere if you are going to stray from default browser/system behavior.
100% agree. I had to install a browser extension when I use HN with such (vs app on android, when it does it by default), just to force open links to new tabs.
I was trying to sarcastically imply that no such same-tab-enabling key existed, and that this was therefore a bad suggestion. (Didn't know it does exist on Safari either!)
oh, sorry, your suggestion wasn't unrealistic enough to not be believable so my sarcasm detector failed.
i took ___ to mean the option key which has this symbol made up of lines: "⌥", it is also the key most likely to be used for such a feature, so i figured that's what you must be talking about.
if you weren't then the key most certainly doesn't exist on a mac either, and i apologize for the downvote. unfortunately it appears that i can't undo it anymore so i hope someone else will compensate with an upvote.
Don't feel bad. I've been down-votted and banned into obscurity meerly for providing my opinion. Do as I did, get a gigantic list of all legislators and government officials, sent them a nice letter informing them of how HN's policies are rotten to the core. In my case I took screenshots, sent those too. When I post something such as now, only I can see it while logged in. When logged off, I can't see my posts. Will take pictures in both states, send those pictures to those legislators in my list :)
The downvotes are because the discussion isn't really about "which option do users prefer". It's actually about returning user choice. As the original comment said: "If I want a separate tab, I can Cmd+click and Browsers don't have the reverse option for opening in the same window."
So when you say "Nope!", you're being downvoted because you're implicitly saying "actually users don't deserve choice".
I like the new tab as well. Otherwise I will forget what I went to. My process is to go through an interesting site, like HN, and then be able to see these interesting sites after that.
I guess it depends on a persons web workflow though
