[lug] OT: web design etiquette Q

[D. Stimits]

Quite a few web design books suggest that it is unethical to open 
someone else's web site in your own pages in such a way that it isn't 
obvious that this is someone else's site. So for example if a URL for a 
download points to a page of downloads from a different web site, it 
might use the
   <a target="_blank"...>
to emphasize that this isn't the original site's, especially if frames 
are involved. I'm trying to do some conversion from a loose DTD to a 
strict DTD html 4.01, and have found the unpleasant surprise that target 
is not supported in any way, not even via some form of CSS attribute. A 
few people said use javascript...which really sucks if you expect text 
based browsers, or want to entirely avoid the javascript compatibility 
plague among browsers. Does anyone here have any philosophy on this, as 
to how it should be handled? E.G., dump strict DTD? Use javascript 
anyway? Or just open the link in the current window and give up on 
target="_blank"? Or perhaps there is something in the frameset DTD and 
even a non-frames page should become frameset (I haven't played with 
frameset DTD, just loose DTD with frames...but it seems to be a given 
that frameset DTD has to have a target attribute)?

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi DOT com