CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjqueryhyperlink
SPL_Splinter
SPL_Splinter

Reputation: 503

It is wrong or a bad practice to use "javascript://" as links to prevent action?

I just saw this question and it reminds me of something I usually do to prevent the default action of some link:

<a href="javascript://">something</a>

Then I handle it with jQuery click function. I already saw in some places people using 

<a href="javascript:void(0)">something</a>

I know the better way is using

e.preventDefault();

But is it wrong or a bad practice to do what I do? How this actually works?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 194

Answers (2)

alex
alex

Reputation: 490423

It is bad practice because a better mechanism exists and that is event.preventDefault().

Also, the javascript: pseudo protocol should only be used for bookmarklets.

Upvotes: 3

Domenic
Domenic

Reputation: 112857

It's a bit unfortunate because if the user Ctrl+clicks or right clicks and says "Open in New Tab," they will get a completely blank page.

Using <a href="#">something</a> plus preventDefault is better, since in that case Ctrl+click just takes them back to the page they were on.

Of course, the very best is if you can have the href point to a page that is actually meaningful, with the JavaScript being a progressive enhancement to the experience that overrides that meaningful default. A great example of this is popup windows, but with a bit more work anything can be made to do this.

Upvotes: 5

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