Option to open `target="_blank"` links in the default browser

[advaithm582]

TL;DR Links (a tags) that have the target attribute set to _blank should open in the default browser.

Problem Description

Links that are supposed to open in a new tab load in the same PWA window. The close button provided at the top basically reloads the PWA app, which isn't intended behaviour (It should return to the previous state of the webpage)

Proposed Solution

Adding an option (per PWA/global) which allows to open links in the default browser (normal browser with tabs etc.) might help.

[filips123]

I tried to implement this, but unfortunately, it's quite hard to detect if links have target=_blank to redirect them to a default browser. Because of this, I'm not sure if this will be implemented soon.

However, you can set "When opening a link that should normally open in a new window or tab" to "Force links into a new window" in the app browser settings. With this option set, target=_blank will be opened in a new window, which can help navigating back, although they are still just PWA windows.

[AxelTerizaki]

I'd be interested in this feature too. This currently making clicking on links from Mastodon clients for example quite bothersome as it opens them in the current window.

What about detecting if the link is in the same subdomain as the PWA main URL? Like, if I make a mastodon.social webapp, and click on some reddit link, it should open it with the default system browser.

[filips123]

What about detecting if the link is in the same subdomain as the PWA main URL? Like, if I make a mastodon.social webapp, and click on some reddit link, it should open it with the default system browser.

This is already possible with the "Open out-of-scope URLs in a default browser" option. In case your PWAs use SSO or multiple domans, you may also need to add those domains to "Domains always allowed to be opened in the app browser".

[stollr]

With outlook.office.com as PWA, when I click on links, they are opened in the default browser (I have enabled Open out-of-scope URLs in a default browser), but at the same time the pwa window is opening a redirection page, which looks like this:

This is the page of Microsoft's safe link protection.

This makes the extension unusable for me. But otherwise it is a great project. Thank you for your work ;-)

[filips123]

How does that safe link protection work when using it in a normal browser? When you click on a link, does it first show this page, and then immediately (after it's verified) redirect you to the target? Also, does this page open in a new tab or it replaces your outlook.office.com tab?

You can also try to set "When opening a link that should normally open in a new window or tab" to "Force links into a new window" (or tab) in the settings.

[stollr]

In a normal browser, a new Tab is opened which shows the safe link page and then the user is redirected to the target URL in that tab.

When I enable the checkbox "Force links into a new window" a new PWA window is opened, where the safelink page is displayed and no redirect happens.

When I keep the Open out-of-scope URLs in a default browser option enabled, the target page is additionally displayed in the default browser.

[filips123]

Yeah, this makes sense. Unfortunately, I think there is currently no way of preventing that safe link page from opening in the PWA, so opening it in a new PWA window (that you then have to close) is probably the best option for now.

In the future, I may try to implement something like the opposite of "Domains always allowed to be opened in the app browser" to specify domains (or URLs?) that should not open in the PWA. But I don't know yet how hard is this to implement.

Also, is Microsoft's safe link protection page hosted on outlook.office.com or another domain?