Is there a way to programmatically instruct IE8 to open a popup in a new window rather than a new tab? I know that IE supports modal windows but I have a bunch of legacy code with ordinary popups.
Update:
I am using Javascript's window.open() method to create popup windows. However, when a user has their IE8 settings set to "Always open popups in a new tab", the popup is launched in a new tab rather than a new window.
Using html, the best you can do is set open page target to blank. Everything else is controlled by the client side and they can choose to open it in a new window or tab.
However, you can use javascript to open the window. Create Link to open in new window here
Since no one else is chiming in... After doing further research, it seems that you cannot force a pop-up to open into a new window when an IE8 user has the following browser setting enabled: Tools>>Internet Options>>Tabs>>When a pop-up is encountered:>>Always open pop-ups in a new tab.
Since I am in an Intranet environment, I have the option of locking down a users IE settings to either "Let Internet Explorer decide how pop-ups should open" or "Always open pop-ups in a new window".
I don't really care to exercise the above option so in order to get the desired user experience, I will resort to making one of the following code changes:
Convert existing pop-ups to IE specific Modal Dialogs using the showModalDialog() method.
Convert existing pop-ups to Javascript Modal Dialogs using jqModal or some other jQuery plug-in.
If you opt to let Internet Explorer decide how to display pop-ups, it
will display the pop-up in a new window if the pop-up specifies size
or display requirements. Otherwise, the pop-up is displayed in a new
tab.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Tabbed-browsing-in-Internet-Explorer-8-frequently-asked-questions
So if you don't set any specific window requirements and it should open in a new tab, unless a user has changed these settings.