Question

Is there a way to make a link open a new browser window (not tab) without using javascript?

Answer 1

With pure HTML you can’t influence this – every modern browser (= the user) has complete control over this behavior because it has been misused a lot in the past…

HTML option

You can open a new window (HTML4) or a new browsing context (HTML5). Browsing context in modern browsers is mostly “new tab” instead of “new window”. You have no influence on that, and you can’t “force” modern browsers to open a new window.

In order to do this, use the anchor element‘s attribute target^[1]. The value you are looking for is _blank^[2].

<a href="www.example.com/example.html" target="_blank">link text</a>

JavaScript option

Forcing a new window is possible via javascript – see Ievgen’s excellent answer below for a javascript solution.

(!) However, be aware, that opening windows via javascript (if not done in the onclick event from an anchor element) are subject to getting blocked by popup blockers!

_{[1] This attribute dates back to the times when browsers did not have tabs and using framesets was state of the art. In the meantime, the functionality of this attribute has slightly changed (see MDN Docu)}

_{[2] There are some other values which do not make much sense anymore (because they were designed with framesets in mind) like _parent, _self or _top.}