Digg is a very popular link/news site which recently released a little something called the DiggBar. This DiggBar has caused a bit of controversy surrounding link juice and a whole bunch of SEO stuff which I won’t pretend to understand.

I actually find the DiggBar useful as I am far more likely to “digg” something when the DiggBar is sitting so handy right at the top of my browser window.

But.

I have one suggestion for the Digg Team. Currently, when I am viewing the “digg details” page of a news article (e.g. http://digg.com/apple/Apple_s_Tiny_iPod_Shuffle_Cost_a_Mere_28_of_Retail_Price ) and I click on the link title, it opens up the actual article (albeit framed by the DiggBar) in a new window (i.e. they use target=”_blank” in the HTML code).

Why!?

Since I use the DiggBar, opening the actual article in a new browser window is redundant now as the DiggBar encapsulates everything I would need from Digg for the article (e.g. view comments, digg, bury etc). All it does is clutter up my Firefox tab bar with more tabs. I then have to close the original tab containing the “digg details” page and then switch back to the article framed by the DiggBar.

Please note, I am not suggesting to change opening links on the Digg homepage in new windows. This only applies to the h1 link on the “digg details” page – and only if the user has the DiggBar enabled (surely Digg can do a little smarts to code the h1 target attribute appopriately based on the user settings?!?!).

I know it’s a small thing, and I can easily put up with it. But would be nice to see this changed.

Update:
I have been alerted that Digg has an option in the “My Profile” > “Settings” section which says “Open external links in:”. There, you can choose to open links in a new window or the current window. Whilst this is useful, it is not quite what I am after as it means now all links (including ones on the homepage) open in the current window by default (unless I do the middle-click trick with Firefox). I really think Digg should treat the homepage links and “digg details” page differently.

If I am on the homepage, chances are I want to view many articles (therefore, open links in a new window).
If I am on the “digg details” page, chances are I only want to view that one article (therefore, open in the same window)