I know the feeling
I’m interested by this one though, because I’m aware of the security issue with target="_blank"
(Check here: https://mathiasbynens.github.io/rel-noopener/ )
I never, ever, use target=_blank
on a website. I use it on prototypes or intranets or web apps with determined users, but not on public websites. 2 reasons:
- the security reason we mentionned
- the fact that you shouldn’t manage users’ tabs. If they want to open one, they can, if they want to open links on a new one, they can decide to open it in new tab but stay incactive, they can decide to open it in incognito window… They can always do what they want, setup their browsers how they want, and do things for themselves better than what you’d do. If they want to go back in their browsing history, they can. For instance it’s far easier to go back in history on mobile than to have to swap to a different page. (the UX here is prettty horrendous, you have to face a list or a grid or a 3D flow of all the pages you browser remembers, the cognitive hit is severe.)
In short, opening tabs is what malicious, piracy and porn sites do. If your site is an app, with a secure and heavy login and session, maybe you can consider it, but you run into problem #1. Which your custom attribute seems to solve.