How to open a new window or tab via javascript in windows phone 7 browser

javascript windows-phone-7 windows-phone
bmurmistro picture bmurmistro · Aug 30, 2012 · Viewed 7.9k times · Source

Is it possible to open a new window or tab via javascript in Windows Phone 7 browser?

window.open does not appear to be supported nor does target='_blank'.

Am I missing something here? This basic feature works just fine on iphone and android. Any ideas on how I can get this working in Windows Phone 7?

Answer

acme picture acme · Sep 4, 2012

On Windows Phone 7 this is not possible programmatically. It's all in the users hand.

To cite a Microsoft employee:

"A user can open a link in a new Tab by tapping and holding the link to get the context menu but an anchor or scripts request to target a new window is ignored.

There are several reasons for this:

  • Cross-window communications are not supported.
  • Windows Phone only has one instance of the browser so new "windows" have to be opened as Tab's.
  • The browser experience is full screen so the user has no good visual cue that they have moved to a new Tab unless they explicity request it.
  • Navigating "back" in a new Tab exits the browser which would be confusing to the user if they did not know a new Tab was created."

Related questions

How do I debug Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7?

I'm not a Windows Phone developer, and I want as little to do as possible with anything related to Microsoft. Nonetheless, I need to get my mobile web app running properly on Windows Phone 7. What debugging tools are available for …

Read More
How can I remove a specific item from an array?

I have an array of numbers and I'm using the .push() method to add elements to it. Is there a simple way to remove a specific element from an array? I'm looking for the equivalent of something like: array.remove(…

Read More
How do I redirect to another webpage?

How can I redirect the user from one page to another using jQuery or pure JavaScript?

Read More