_blank -vs- _self
Every website makes small decisions about how it treats its readers.
Most of those decisions are invisible. Some are inherited. A few are intentional.
One of the simplest is how a link opens.
Opening links in a new tab (_blank) has become common. It’s often justified as a convenience — a way to “keep users on the site” while letting them explore elsewhere. Sometimes it’s framed as a kindness.
I don’t use it here.
When a link opens in the same tab (_self), it does something quiet but important: it treats leaving as a complete action. You go somewhere else. This page ends. Nothing waits in the background.
That feels honest to me.
If you want to open something in a new tab, your browser already knows how to do that. Right-click. Long-press. Gesture. The choice is yours.
Forcing a new tab doesn’t add freedom. It removes it. It decides, on your behalf, that you should keep this page open — that your attention should remain partially here, just in case.
I don’t want to do that.
This site is not trying to hold you. It’s not measuring bounce rates or optimizing paths. If you leave, that’s fine. If you come back, that’s fine too.
Opening links in the same tab is a small way of signaling trust.
It says:
- Read this, or don’t.
- Go there, or don’t.
That choice matters more than it seems.
Attention is not something I want to capture.
It’s something I want to respect.