https://kyrylo.org/html/2024/10/25/why-does-target-blank-have-an-underscore-in-front.html

Why does target="_blank" have an underscore in front?

Oct 25, 2024 | Kyrylo Silin Kyrylo Silin * @kyrylosilin *
bluesky:@kyrylo.org

Ever wondered why you need the underscore in target="_blank" to open
a link in a new tab?

Before HTML5, developers used <frameset> for SPA-like functionality,
dividing the window into multiple frames, each with its own unique
name. For example, the left frame might be name="sidebar", and the
right frame could be name="content".

When clicking a link, the browser needed to know which frame to load
the content into. That's where the target attribute came in. Clicking
a link in the sidebar, for example, would load the content in the
content frame:

<a href="/pricing" target="content"></a>

Now, if you had a frame named "blank" and used <a href="/" target=
"blank">, the content would load in that frame. But if no such frame
existed, the browser would create a new window (not a tab, as
browsers didn't support tabs at the time) and assign it the "blank"
name. Clicking the same link again wouldn't open another tab.

So why the underscore in target="_blank"?

It's simple - developers needed a way to explicitly tell the browser
to open the link in a new tab, free of frame semantics. The
underscore signifies a special value rather than a frame name.

P.S. Don't use <frameset>. It's deprecated in HTML5.

- Writing software is like sp... * Home * There's no place for
Test-D... -

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyrylo Silin -- software engineer, web developer, and budding
entrepreneur.

There is ATOM feed (it's like RSS, but better).

Last modified: