Make hyperref links open in new browser window for easier navigation

Question

I edit a newsletter using LaTeX and I find hyperref very limiting. I'm using hyperref with only one argument: hidelinks. If I click on a \url link in the newsletter the URL opens in the same window, but without the ability to return to the newsletter via the browser's 'back' button. DUH! How can I emulate the HTML target value _blank feature and open the \url in a new window?

Answer 1

There is an option pdfnewwindow for the command \href. This option does not work with the command \url, but \url{URL} is actually equivalent to \href{URL}{\nolinkurl{URL}}.

This means that you can define a new command like this:

\newcommand{\urlNewWindow}[1]{\href[pdfnewwindow=true]{#1}{\nolinkurl{#1}}}

and then say

\urlNewWindow{URL}

Answer 2

The answer to my question: hyperref doesn't have a feature to direct a web browser to open in a new tab from a PDF document. The Adobe PDF specs define a method for opening new browser tabs from a PDF document, but the example provided by Adobe is a Javascript implementation and doesn't apply to LaTeX.

A subsidiary issue in the thread: creating a command - using \href - that puts a coloured line under a clickable web link in a PDF document without invoking \hypersetup is solved as follows:

\documentclass{article}  
\usepackage{xcolor}  
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}  
\newcommand{\click}[2]{\href{http://#1}{\colorlet{temp}{.}\color{blue}{\underline{\color{temp}#2}}\color{temp}}}  
\newcommand{\clicks}[2]{\href{https://#1}{\colorlet{temp}{.}\color{blue}{\underline{\color{temp}#2}}\color{temp}}}  
\begin{document}  
Please visit \click{www.disney.com}{Disneyland} and sign the visitors' book. 
This is how engineers make \clicks{www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX4Oi6pPOpQ}{tea}.  
\end{document} 

I have illustrated two commands: \click for ordinary http access and \clicks for https access. Commands for other protocols can be created by changing the protocol designator. Change the colour of the underline to suit your needs.

The main benefit of using the commands is being able to treat different protocols in different ways when using standard hyperref, eg, e-mail addresses without underlines, web addresses highlighted by coloured underlines. Another benefit is that the commands don't change the background font.

Answer 3

Boris' answer should work, but dare I say, I think we've found a bug in hyperref, at least in the hpdftex.def driver v6.83m (I haven't checked any of the others).

The issue is that the pdfnewwindow=true option is being ignored. If you examine the output pdf file in a text editor, you should notice something like this:

/Subtype/Link/A<</Type/Action/S/URI/NewWindow true/URI(http://www.ieee.org/queensland)>>

In particular, there should be something saying /NewWindow true, but it doesn't seem to be there, unless we make the following patch first (basically adding a call to \Hy@SetNewWindow in the appropriate place):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}
\newcommand{\click}[1]{\href[pdfnewwindow=true]{http://#1}{\nolinkurl{#1}}}
\makeatletter
\def\hyper@linkurl#1#2{%
  \begingroup
    \Hy@pstringdef\Hy@pstringURI{#2}%
    \hyper@chars
    \leavevmode
    \pdfstartlink
      attr{%
        \Hy@setpdfborder
        \ifx\@pdfhightlight\@empty
        \else
          /H\@pdfhighlight
        \fi
        \ifx\@urlbordercolor\relax
        \else
          /C[\@urlbordercolor]%
        \fi
      }%
      user{%
       /Subtype/Link%
       \ifHy@pdfa /F 4\fi
       /A<<%
         /Type/Action%
         /S/URI%
          \Hy@SetNewWindow
         /URI(\Hy@pstringURI)%
         \ifHy@href@ismap
           /IsMap true%
         \fi
         \Hy@href@nextactionraw
       >>%
      }%
      \relax
    \Hy@colorlink\@urlcolor#1\Hy@xspace@end
    \close@pdflink
  \endgroup
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
In the meantime please keep yourself updated by visiting our website at \click{www.ieee.org/queensland}.
\end{document}