Re: link handling in js-reader

[Gavin Smith]

On Thu, Mar 04, 2021 at 09:20:53PM -0600, Jacob Bachmeyer wrote:
> Per Bothner wrote:
> > On 3/4/21 12:16 PM, Gavin Smith wrote:
> > > On Wed, Mar 03, 2021 at 08:25:59PM -0600, Jacob Bachmeyer wrote:
> > 
> > > > The texinfo tool that generates HTML has the ToC, so really the correct
> > > > solution here would be for the HTML output to include the 'target'
> > > > attributes directly.  JS can then determine internal links by
> > > > the absence of
> > > > that attribute and the features at least somewhat gracefully
> > > > degrade if JS
> > > > is disabled.
> > > 
> > > I don't know why you say that the manual does not degrade gracefully if
> > > JS is disabled.
> > 
> > I guess the question is whether it makes sense for the generated html
> > to statically include target="_blank" attributes for external links -
> > regardless
> > of the presence or absence of JavaScript (as opposed to having the
> > JavaScript
> > info reader add the target="_blank" attribute).  I don't feel strongly
> > either
> > way, but it is worth considering.
> 
> We have the ToC available when generating HTML, but the js-reader scripts do
> not have access to the ToC, as was explained earlier.  Encoding the
> important distinction "link target is in the ToC" into the static HTML
> provides that information to the js-reader scripts.  Using the
> target="_blank" attribute serves a double purpose:  it can indicate to
> js-reader that the link is an external link *and* it provides the "external
> links open in new windows/tabs" functionality even if JavaScript is
> disabled.

I don't see why all external links necessarily need to be opening in new
windows.