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Weekend reading: Another question for you guys

Weekend reading: Another question for you guys post image

Good reads from around the Web.

Thanks to everyone who shared their responses to the new design tweaks here at Monevator. I’m pleased to say the consensus has been overwhelmingly positive.

Today’s Weekend Reading has a further experimental element.

I know! Exciting.

As part of his design feedback, reader Al went off-piste to suggest that when we link to external sites from Monevator, we should be opening such pages in a new browser tab or window.

This way you don’t navigate away from Monevator when you click through to an external article. Our site remains just where you left, it in the original tab. Al prefers this method, especially when browsing a bunch of Weekend Reading links.

From a selfish perspective as a website owner, this approach is far better for me, too, as I am less likely to lose you to a site I link to.

But when I learned the craft of blogging a decade ago, it was frowned upon as rude to force new windows on readers.

Al says times have changed. Mainly it’s down to all that tabbing, as opposed to the old way of opening new additional windows. Tabs are much less of a burden on the reader than windows popping up all over the place. The benefits now outweigh the costs, he says.

For today’s Weekend Reading, I’ve experimentally made all the links open in new tabs.

What do you prefer? Do you prefer this approach to clicking through to the new site and then (hopefully) using your browser’s Back button to return to Monevator?

Please let me know in the comments below.

Enjoy the links – there’s tons of good stuff today – and have a great weekend!

From the blogs

Making good use of the things that we find…

Passive investing

Active investing

Other articles

Product of the week: HSBC will pay you £200 if you switch to its Premier or Advance account, reports The Telegraph. There are hurdles: To get the full whack you have to stay for at least 12 months, set up standing orders, and register for online or mobile banking.

Mainstream media money

Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view these enable you to click through to read the piece without being a paid subscriber of that site.1

Passive investing

  • Stock market efficiency: Micro or macro efficient? – Mutual Funds
  • Jack Bogle: Champion of the long run – Wall Street Journal
  • Index funds help keep your returns on track – Guardian
  • Justify your Smart Beta methodology – ETF.com

Active investing

  • Investors should not write-off ‘bond proxies’ [Search result]FT
  • Why builders are a good bet after Brexit – ThisIsMoney
  • First UK VCT to offer a regular savings scheme – Interactive Investor
  • Funds with performance fees come under fire [Search result]FT

A word from a broker

Other stuff worth reading

  • Merryn S-W: Why we should all aim to die broke [Search result]FT
  • Here come the £5 plastic notes – Guardian
  • Some savers told they can’t hold SIPP money in fixed-rate bonds – Telegraph
  • One day you’ll be too old to manage your pension – Telegraph
  • Has London’s property bubble burst? [Search result]FT
  • Why Hong Kong cash buying London housing is not all bad – Guardian
  • What if you weren’t afraid? – New York Times
  • It’s a boy thing – 1843 Magazine
  • Why are so many BASE jumpers dying? – National Geographic

Book of the week: You have probably heard the unmistakable sound of an implement being drawn across a barrel here some weeks. Let’s face it, there are only so many must-read investing books, and I’ve only so much time to read them. But a new book from Charles D. Ellis – on index investing no less – will surely make the grade for all you passivistas out there. The Index Revolution: Why Investors Should Join It Now was published in the past fortnight. If you’ve read it, please give us a review below.

Like these links? Subscribe to get them every week!

  1. Note some articles can only be accessed through the search results if you’re using PC/desktop view (from mobile/tablet view they bring up the firewall/subscription page). To circumvent, switch your mobile browser to use the desktop view. On Chrome for Android: press the menu button followed by “Request Desktop Site”. []
{ 81 comments… add one }
  • 1 Retirement Investing Today September 10, 2016, 9:50 am

    A big thumbs up to opening a new tab with each link from me TI. Workflow wise I find it far simpler.

  • 2 DW September 10, 2016, 10:04 am

    New tab for each link much better for me thanks. Please continue!

  • 3 William III September 10, 2016, 10:09 am

    The overton window has completely shifted on this. It’s rather rude to open a link in the existing tab these days 🙂

  • 4 Old_eyes September 10, 2016, 10:13 am

    Yes – new tab is a great improvement. I was already right-clicking for a new tab anyway. Let me springboard from the linked site to something further without forgetting I was still working my way through your article.

    Thanks for all the great content and links that set me off on an exciting intellectual forage each Saturday.

  • 5 Paul G September 10, 2016, 10:14 am

    I still frown on the idea to be honest. If I want to open a link in a new tab I’ll do so (either by middle clicking the link or right-click open in new tab).

    I would rather websites I visit didn’t try to make such decisions for me.

  • 6 Al September 10, 2016, 10:17 am

    Oh happy days! You know my preference. Thanks for the referendum. Here’s hoping for Tabxit!

  • 7 Mark September 10, 2016, 10:27 am

    I think the design is a modest improvement, but the switch to opening links in new tabs is a bigger advance still. Yes, forcing the opening of a new window is (or was) seen as bad practice; but new tabs are fine, in fact better that that force someone to navigate back and forth.

  • 8 Brendon Boshell September 10, 2016, 10:38 am

    New tab is definitely preferred. Although I normally hold down Cmd and click all the links in one go, then work through the 50-odd tabs one by one. New design is looking great!

  • 9 Neverland September 10, 2016, 10:41 am

    Opening links in a new tab is a lot better

  • 10 BB September 10, 2016, 10:52 am

    I always open links in new tabs so having them open automatically is good as far as I’m concerned

  • 11 Graham September 10, 2016, 11:04 am

    Definitely open links in new tabs for me.
    Great site – thanks a lot.

  • 12 Nuno September 10, 2016, 11:04 am

    I read all your nice work on an iPad Pro… Powerful and tab-friendly, so tabs get my vote.

  • 13 andy September 10, 2016, 11:07 am

    No. Because I can open links in a new tab if I want to, and I normally do. I do not want the normal behaviour changed.

  • 14 Hamzah September 10, 2016, 11:15 am

    I agree with other comments; I already opened the links in a new tab using the browser right hand menu. I do that for a slightly different reason however (and apply the same reasoning to other sites). I work my way down your list of links opening whatever catches my eye but do not go to the page until I have digested the remainder of your article and comments. I can then quickly work through the tabs to decide whether I am actually interested enough in the link to read in detail. I appreciate you choose material with some care, but even with the brief precis that you supply, what I find does not always ring my bells. Each to their own, but many thanks for your time and energy devoted to your site.

  • 15 Hamzah September 10, 2016, 11:21 am

    Ah, I tested your new feature and it dumps me into the new tab rather than leaving me on your site’s tab (well in IE 11 anyway). That seems to me to defeat the object of keeping me on your site! I will stick to the browser menu method as the tab opens in the background.

  • 16 Public service announcement September 10, 2016, 11:25 am

    While clicking a link, if you hold the “Control” key on a computer running Windows or the “Command” key on a Mac, it opens in a new tab. Long-pressing the link on most phones brings up a menu that achieves the same thing.

    Conversely, if you want to keep a link within the same tab but the website owner has set the default to opening a new tab, there’s no easy way to reverse this behaviour.

    So if you ask me (which you did), all links should open in the same tab by default because this makes it easier for the user to exercise their preference. As long as they know the shortcut. Which they should.

  • 17 magneto September 10, 2016, 11:33 am

    Love it !
    Far simpler for this non-techie.

  • 18 ChesterDog September 10, 2016, 11:37 am

    New tabs are a mixed blessing.
    As Hamzah says, they tend by default to spirit you straight off the MV tab, so you have to keep going back to it manually to work your way down the links.
    The old way, as others have said, you could just right-click the links and rattle down the whole cherry-picked list.
    New method is more elegant though, and feels cleaner, better thought out and polished.
    Overall, I vote for new tabs.

  • 19 mucgoo September 10, 2016, 11:50 am

    You can open in a new tab with a middle click (and it also opens while remaining on the current window so for a link list you can open up a half dozen and then work your way through them) so if I do right click something I don’t want a new tab.

  • 20 living cheap in London September 10, 2016, 11:51 am

    yep you’ve saved me a mouse-click there as i was always doing the right-click “open in new browser window” option!!

  • 21 SurreyBoy September 10, 2016, 12:28 pm

    I much prefer the new tab approach. thx

  • 22 weenie September 10, 2016, 12:39 pm

    Like some others here, I already right-click for a new tab, so I can continue to read your post, read the comments and then read the tabs I opened earlier. Left-clicking is easier so it’s a thumbs up from me.

  • 23 PetePool September 10, 2016, 12:52 pm

    Long time reader first time comment so firstly I’d just like to say thanks for all great articles over the years and lively debates. I like the new approach of opening tabs, especially for the weekend reading section.

  • 24 The Accumulator September 10, 2016, 12:56 pm

    I said this to you years ago! 😉

  • 25 mark September 10, 2016, 12:57 pm

    New tabs are good for me. No more “back button” frenzy after following links from links etc.

  • 26 Tom September 10, 2016, 1:08 pm

    Finally. Long overdue. *thumbs up*

  • 27 IanH September 10, 2016, 1:09 pm

    You can optionally open links in a new tab or window anyway simply by right clicking them. Bit easier for tablet users I guess.

  • 28 Ian September 10, 2016, 1:11 pm

    Tabbed browsing is much easier. Continue!

  • 29 The Rhino September 10, 2016, 1:16 pm

    I think I m going to have to stop the old wing suit base jumping. Juice just isn’t worth the squeeze

  • 30 Rob September 10, 2016, 1:37 pm

    Tabs. Waaaaaay better

  • 31 PC September 10, 2016, 1:48 pm

    Much prefer links open in a new tab – it will save me having to right click on them and choosing open link in a new tab .. 😉

    Enjoyed the ‘why we should all die broke’ article – that could set off a whole passionate discussion on its own ..

  • 32 Hugo September 10, 2016, 1:55 pm

    +1 for opening all links in a new tab.

    Hate sites where you navigate away and you lose your linking page – major gripe!!

  • 33 Gregory September 10, 2016, 2:13 pm

    @Why not a value bias? (Research Affiliates)— It is ridiculous. They know both the future equity return and the size of the future value premium.

  • 34 Kript September 10, 2016, 2:14 pm

    Yay for new tabs! Also, thanks for continuing to provide this quality round up each week.

  • 35 Mike September 10, 2016, 2:27 pm

    Al is wrong. It’s still frowned upon. I happen to open links in a new tab behind the current one, so it doesn’t help or hurt me, since I still need to hold a key while clicking (since your new tabs jump presumptuously to the front). But for users who like to open links in the same window, no such luck.

  • 36 Al September 10, 2016, 2:31 pm

    As various people have pointed out, it is possible to right-click to open a link in another browser tab. But that means one extra (fiddly) click per link, two in total.

    In practice that’s 39 superfluous clicks to read all the articles in this edition of ‘Weekend Reading’, 78 clicks all together.

    Users consistently prefer speed in website navigation. The arguments for keeping navigation within one tab to ‘preserve user choice’ therefore seem rather hollow.

    I call on the good readers of Monevator: support passive web navigation; get behind the campaign for Tabxit – new tabs for external links. (Sorry, I can’t give out flags).

  • 37 Alex September 10, 2016, 2:36 pm

    Re the tabbing suggestions above, I agree wholeheartedly. I always open the links in a tab anyway, and I have to right-click to do that. If the site can do that for me, million times better 🙂
    So, a positive vote from me.

  • 38 David September 10, 2016, 2:36 pm

    The new tab approach gets my vote. I had to use your website rather than direct links from the email to try it but that was actually more convenient.

  • 39 dearieme September 10, 2016, 2:50 pm

    “For a [US] male at sixty-five, median remaining longevity is about twenty-four years”: is the British figure much the same?

  • 40 Moongrazer September 10, 2016, 3:00 pm

    I almost always middle click to open links (including ones to your own site) in new tabs anyway, as frequently I’m doing it mid-read and would rather read the linked pages after I’ve finished the first.

  • 41 TonyP September 10, 2016, 3:22 pm

    Thumbs up from me!

  • 42 James McGrath September 10, 2016, 4:29 pm

    Don’t right click: hold down the Control/Command key, et voila – the link opens in a new tab. You can have it whichever way you want, no extra click/effort required.

    Set the links back to how they were – let readers use the keyboard shortcut and Take Back Control 😉

  • 43 Learner September 10, 2016, 4:31 pm

    I long ago adopted the habit of holding the “command” (or “ctrl”) key while clicking links, so they open in a background tab, thus nothing changes really.

  • 44 Jonathan September 10, 2016, 4:49 pm

    Thank Goodness you’ve finally moved into the modern decade with auto-tabbing on links! I’ve always read down your article top to bottom in a flow, opening the interesting links in the background (Control, backslash-meta-headbang, argh!) for *later* consumption.

    Rudeness is the new politeness!

  • 45 Andrew Knox September 10, 2016, 4:52 pm

    Hmm, either way for me… but, if I’m developing sites, I like to leave the link to internal sites on the same tab AND drop a standardised icon next to the link to let the user know they’re about to be taken away from your site. That way the user is in control – they have the tools at their disposal to make their own minds up.

    Sample icon: http://fontawesome.io/3.2.1/icon/external-link/

    Wikipedia use this approach for example.

  • 46 Andrew Knox September 10, 2016, 4:54 pm

    Sorry, typo!

    “… I like to leave the link to ‘external’ sites on the same tab …”

  • 47 Lad's Dad September 10, 2016, 5:03 pm

    Tabbed browsing because my Samsung S7 does a cool swoops thing! 🙂

  • 48 Tom September 10, 2016, 5:14 pm

    Tabs

  • 49 Andrew Williams September 10, 2016, 6:34 pm

    I much prefer the linked article to open in a new tab.

  • 50 Al September 10, 2016, 7:11 pm

    @Mike. May I ask who’s frowning at ‘tabbing’ and why?

    If external links in Monevator opened in a new tab, I presume your brow would remain untroubled as you are opening them manually anyway.

    Can I not persuade you to throw aside old conventions from a pre-tab era and embrace the new morality that you are already living?

    Think of how you could spend those extra seconds of life!

    Join us brother. Vote Tabxit!

    [Is canvassing for votes aloud within the rules of Monevator?]

  • 51 rugbytrader September 10, 2016, 7:21 pm

    TABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTABTAB

    I hate, nay, loath sites that don’t open a tab when i click on a link, they are the devils spawn.
    Although, you quickly learn which sites still adhere to this abhorrent practice and right click to open a new tab.

    I’m glad you are catching up with the times

  • 52 SirGordalot September 10, 2016, 7:38 pm

    Another vote from me for the separate tab.

    Also, thanks for the slightly off kilter piece about how hobbies are (arguably) dying out now that we are monetising them as ‘side hustles’. It’s really good to have a few links to articles that aren’t just about SWR etc.

    Keep up the good work!

  • 53 Phil September 10, 2016, 7:44 pm

    I’ve always been told that forcing links to open in a new tab takes the decision away from the user – which is bad. People regularly request it though, mainly for external links.

    Apparently there’s also a a security risk to using target=’_blank’: https://medium.com/@jitbit/target-blank-the-most-underestimated-vulnerability-ever-96e328301f4c#.kvkzx3kr2.

  • 54 Peter Scarlet September 10, 2016, 7:56 pm

    I like the new “new tab” approach. Thank you.

  • 55 John B September 10, 2016, 8:09 pm

    New tabs good

  • 56 theFIREstarter September 10, 2016, 11:40 pm

    Hi TI,

    I was going to reply to Al on the thread the other day but seeing as you’ve asked I’ll do it here instead.

    I was also told when learning blogging and websites in general to always link by not opening a new tab/window. The reason being most (all?) browsers have the option to open links in a new tab anyway.

    In most laptop browsers you just right click then “Open in new tab”
    If you are using Chrome, you just hold Ctrl/Cmd and click on the link and it will open in the new tab, even easier (sure there are similar keyboard shortcuts on other browsers, probably exactly the same in fact)

    On mobile/tablets just press and hold on the link for about 1 second and you get an option to open in new tab.

    Hope that helps everyone out there who find the whole open in same window thing annoying for blogs that follow the “old way” of doing things.

    I always open in new tab/window for all internal and external links on my blog as that is what I have always preferred as a reader. OK so basing it on my sample of one was perhaps a silly move but judging by the above comments it’s not common knowledge that you can easily open in a new tab yourself anyway, and I think that is by far the most common behaviour nowadays since browsers have become “tab-able” as Al rightly pointed out.

    Cheers!

  • 57 Donald Close September 10, 2016, 11:50 pm

    I like the new tab version of links – very easy to return home, and I can keep the new tab open if I want to pursue that link further.

  • 58 Clive McGovern September 11, 2016, 9:37 am

    I vote for new tabs opening from links! Thanks for the blog BTW you do a great job.

  • 59 Planting Acorns September 11, 2016, 10:11 am

    Prefer ‘right clicking’ (holding down on tablet) to open tabs myself, although I can still do this so on the fence.

    Lot of comments today…have you considered a grouping of higher than 50?? I think you underestimate your popularity ;0)

    Loved the RIT piece…I can see there may be good times to get advice on how to plan my financial future…but ongoing advice into which actively managed funds to invest in?? Just don’t get it. My average cost of investing is 0.39pc including the platform

  • 60 Tim September 11, 2016, 11:06 am

    +1 new tabs, much better. 🙂

  • 61 European Passive Investor September 11, 2016, 12:57 pm

    Tab-ra-kadabra!

    Thanks & welcome to 2016.

    Sunny greetings from the Continent.

  • 62 cat793 September 11, 2016, 1:12 pm

    I am with Al – open new tab.

  • 63 dlp6666 September 11, 2016, 1:49 pm

    Another vote, please, for “clink on link >> new tab opened”, leaving main article intact.

    Thanks

  • 64 gadgetmind September 11, 2016, 7:37 pm

    If I want a new tab, then I hold shift as I click, but I have no objection to Monevator links opening one for me as I don’t want to leave. 🙂

  • 65 theFIREstarter September 11, 2016, 9:01 pm

    To the people who are saying to leave links as they were, to “leave the choice in user hands” I ask you this:

    When was the last time you got half way through a blog post and decided it would be a good idea to just navigate to a new post entirely (even one from the same blog).

    I can hand on heart say in 3 years of avid blog reading and probably tens of thousands of posts read and links opened, I have never once not opened in new tab.

    Further, it is clear that not everyone knows about the right click/ctrl/cmd+click thing. So for those say 10% opening in new tab all the time is an improvement.

    Just read the post about the music industry, very interesting. Although it probably should have just been called “interesting things Dave Grohl said”. He sounds like he has his head screwed on right and found out what his “enough” was early on in life. Maybe an interview for Monevator could be on the cards?

  • 66 The Investor September 12, 2016, 9:57 am

    @All — Wow, this one touched a nerve! Apologies for my senior linking practices to-date. 😉

    I think it’s a clear majority for opening links in a new tab, even if we assume that some who prefer the status quo haven’t voted. Also, people don’t seem to be distinguishing between internal and external sites, so it sounds like people want/expect all links to open in a new tab nowadays. (Not counting those who voted “No, I prefer to do it myself”, of course, of whom I am one. But we’re clearly outvoted here).

    It’s way better than me for a website owner, anyway. So a win win win lose. (Again, the lose reflecting the views of the minority who don’t want to lose the optionality).

    Obviously there’s well over 1,000 old articles with the old linking style in place. Will take a *long* time before they’re all shifted over, if ever. But we can make a new start from here.

    Cheers again to reader @Al for the suggestion, and to all readers who voted either way.

  • 67 theFIREstarter September 12, 2016, 11:31 am

    Hi TI,

    There is a simple jquery snippet that can just automatically make all links across your whole site open in new tab. I can send it across with some basic instructions on where to stick it, if you’re interested?

    I’ve emailed you the same question so just reply to me on that if easier.

    Cheers

  • 68 Ray Jardine September 12, 2016, 12:26 pm

    Please retain the new tabs.

  • 69 SDN123 September 12, 2016, 4:21 pm

    New “open in a new tab” interface is an improvement. Pls keep it 🙂

  • 70 Al September 12, 2016, 6:24 pm

    A victory for democracy. A victory for ordinary people. Thank you for listening Monevator. I trust we will all benefit from Tabxit for many years. I feel quite emotional…

  • 71 Alan September 12, 2016, 8:52 pm

    LOVE THE TAB FEATURE
    (I know upper case is shouting … but i love the tab feature) … ps love the new improved site.
    Thank you

  • 72 Michael September 13, 2016, 8:53 am

    Prefer the open in new tab. Hate the AVH thing that often blocks me from reading the site:-

    Access has been blocked.

    Your IP [104.238.169.151] has been identified as spam

    Protected by: AVH First Defense Against Spam

  • 73 Dave Smith September 13, 2016, 12:01 pm

    Doesn’t anyone use middle-click? That has for ages been what you use if you want a link to open in a new tab. Easier and quicker than right-click + menu, of shift-click or whatever. Regular left-click was always supposed to mean replacing the page you are looking at.
    But it seems the argument is lost, and now we have two kinds of links that look the same but behave differently. I would suggest either making all links behave the same way, or changing the look of external links, e.g. with an arrow symbol like they do on the BBC site.

  • 74 Dave Smith September 13, 2016, 12:11 pm

    I meant to add: middle-click (or other existing “open in new tab” options) have the advantage that they do *not* switch focus to the new tab. So, you’re looking at the Weekend Reading page, and you can quickly middle-click on all the interesting links, which then unobtrusively open in new tabs in the background, leaving you in the Monevator tab.
    With the new forced-new-tab mechanism, you are switched to the new tab, so have to navigate back to the Monevator tab and remember where you were.

  • 75 Gary Grand September 13, 2016, 1:11 pm

    Opening a new tab is the way to go, makes it much easier to go between site, came across this site a few months ago and have found it very helpful. Thanks

  • 76 ILiveOnTheWeb September 13, 2016, 10:36 pm

    Clicking links is one of the most fundamental ways of interacting with a browser. The user has a conceptual model of what happens when clicking a link and that is that it opens in the current tab/window. We can then choose whether we want to switch the current page or actually open in a new tab (middle click or right click open new tab) or even in a new window e.g. to put on a different monitor. Opening pages by default in a new tab takes this freedom away from the user and causes confusion.

    The so-called “new” behaviour of opening in a new tab is just a hack by website owners. I find it deceitful and in bad taste.

  • 77 The Investor September 13, 2016, 10:51 pm

    The so-called “new” behaviour of opening in a new tab is just a hack by website owners

    Clearly as you can see above this statement is not supported by the voting from actual readers. I’ve also had people asking for opening new tabs over email, where none have asked to keep the status quo.

    (And my view was more similar yours, until I was prodded by a reader! 🙂 )

  • 78 dlp6666 September 14, 2016, 9:29 am

    @David Smith

    Thanks for the info about the ‘middle click’ option (never knew about it before).

    I suppose, yes, the ideal option would be for any click on a link to replicate this ‘middle click’ routine of opening the new tab but NOT automatically diverting the reader away to it, letting them instead continue on the main page.

  • 79 Kraggash September 14, 2016, 10:49 am

    When there are a list of links, as long as it clearly states at the top what clicking does (‘opens in new tab’ or ‘opens in page’) I am easy either way. but a slight preference for ‘opens in new tab’. Sadly, it now has to state which it does, as web pages no longer go with a standard approach.

    When the links are in-line, or more imbeded in the text, I prefer it opens a new tab. Then I can easily go back to where I was reading on the original page.

  • 80 RetireJapan September 14, 2016, 4:04 pm

    Yes, please! Link -> new tab

    I never want to jump to a new site when clicking on a link 😉

  • 81 The Investor September 16, 2016, 9:13 pm

    @Michael — Just a note to say not sure what I can do about this. I had a bit of a Google and your IP does seem to be associated with some spammy-ness (presumably because of other activity at your ISP). But then my co-blogger The Accumulator said he had been blocked! Will poke about some more this weekend.

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