Links not opening? Maybe they are!

By | September 15, 2011

We are still getting a lot of email from Internet Explorer users telling us that this or that link isn’t working on our site. So we go and check and the links are working. Tabbed browsing is great, but it can be confusing if you’re not paying attention to the tabs.

If you use Internet Explorer 7, 8 or 9, with tabbed browsing enabled, you might not be aware that by default, when a new tab is created, IE does not switch to the new tab. If you click a link that opens in new window – as many do – you may think the link is not working. It probably is working, but it probably spawned a new tab in Internet Explorer. The trouble is, Internet Explorer does not switch to the newly created tab by default. This may cause you to think a perfectly good link is not opening; you might incorrectly assume that the link is broken.

This is a good tip for ALL Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 users – because it will save you a lot of annoyances – and a lot of frustration.

Start off by opening Internet Explorer and clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”. In the General Tab (the default) go into the Tab section and click settings (see fig. 1 below):
InfoAve by Cloudeight
fig.1

Make sure you check the box that says “Always switch to new tabs when they are created.” (See fig. 2 below.)

InfoAve by Cloudeight
Fig.2

Click “OK” to save your changes, then click “Apply” “OK” in the main dialog, if prompted. This will solve the problem some of you are having when you click a link and it appears nothing happens.

2 thoughts on “Links not opening? Maybe they are!

  1. Lori

    Hi: I don’t know if this will be helpful but when you first started your Info Ave Daily, I, too, thought the links did not work and I used to delete your email (my tabs were already set per your description). What I then realized was on the days when your Info Ave Daily has more than a couple of tips you will put a list at the top showing what the tips are, and, if I would take my mouse and hover over a tip on that list, my mouse arrow would turn into a hand, the way it does for any working link, and I would then click on it, but, it would not work like a link. It took me two weeks to realize that if I scrolled down screen to where the tip article begins then that link would work (thankfully, I finally figured it out but I lost two weeks of great tips when you first started IAD). So, maybe that is why people are thinking that your links don’t work. When you have only one or two tips, you do not list what they are at the top of the Info Ave Daily so people automatically have to scroll down a bit to get to the actual tip link, which does work. But, when you have a list at the top of the page with your tip topics, the list acts like it is a link, and behaves like one when you hover your mouse over it, but it does not work like a link. People have to actually scroll down to where the tip starts. I feel like I just talked in a circle, but, hopefully, you will understand what I am saying and maybe this will help those who are confused about your links, as I was when you first started Info Ave Daily. Thanks for all of your great tips over the years. Lori

    Reply
  2. Mary Ramirez

    Thanks a bunch, now I’d like to get rid of Google as my web browser. When computer had to be repaired the tech always sets Google as the home page and I don’t like it but don’t want to mess up my computer again by screwing things up again. I use I.E. 8 and want that as my home page.

    Reply

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