Why is Wordpress opening new windows?

February 4, 2009 7:38 AM

Since upgrading to Wordpress 2.7, every single link on my blog opens in a new window. Why?

I've noticed this problem in 4 different browsers on 2 different machines.

Any time a link is clicked, be it to leave a comment, check out the archives, whatever, a new window is created which the relevant page then loads in.

Why is this?

I've tried disabling all plugins & reinstalling Wordpress. I've tried a few different themes, including one I know works on 2.6.1, and they all exhibit this odd behaviour. I've even tried a completely fresh install of Wordpress 2.7, in a just-created folder (to ensure that nothing was left behind) and it's still doing the same thing. I've duplicated the 2.7 setup, but used Wordpress 2.6.1 instead, and not been able to duplicate the problem. So, I figure it's something in 2.7 that's causing this.

What do I need to do to get it to open the links in the same window?

posted by Solomon to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Does the HTML source of a particular page change between the two versions?
posted by mkb at 7:43 AM on February 4

Are you using a custom theme or any plugins?
posted by toomuchpete at 8:11 AM on February 4

Off the top of my head, links opening in new windows is caused by one of three things:

1) inside the 'a href' tag, you've got 'target='_blank' specified

2) in the 'head' of the page, you've got the tag <base target="_blank">

3) you've got an onclick javascript function around each link

So the first step is to figure out which one it is by looking at the source of your html - that may help you narrow it down.

You might also try uninstalling all plugins. Does the problem persist? If not, re-enable them one at a time until you figure out which one is causing the problem.

toomuchpete is also right that it could be your theme. Try switching to the basic default theme. Does the problem persist? If not, you know where the problem is.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:21 AM on February 4

It was the theme. The default theme didn't have the problem, so I checked out the theme I normally use, and the problem was in there.

Thanks guys.
posted by Solomon at 8:33 AM on February 4