If you have a website, one of the main things you want to do is keeping your users to stay. That's why, when you link to an external website, most people will add the attribute target="_blank" (new window) to the link.

This method can be pretty time consuming, especially when you're not using a WYSIWYG editor. For more user friendly links, you could also add a suffix icon to show a new window will open. mfBlank does all this work for you! It recognizes outgoing links and adds the target="_blank" and an icon automatically. This way, you'll make sure to keep your visitors on your site. The script is very small, but can be really useful for your website.

Are you tired of placing the target=_"blank" attribute to all links on your Joomla! website? mfBlank is your solution and it automatically adds a suffix icon to external links.

• mfBlank Download
• mfBlank for Joomla! 1.5 Download

What does it do?

Exactly what is said above! Here is a small demo on how a website would look like (please take note that this is not a live demo).

1. Every link in your content is being checked. If it is an internal link (a link to another article or page on your own website), nothing special is happening.

   This changes when you add an external link. A suffix image is being added and the URL will open in a new window.

Install for Joomla 1.0.x

1. Log in to your back-end of the site
2. Go to "Installers", "Mambots"
3. Click on "Browse" and navigate to the downloaded ZIP archive
4. Press "Upload File & Install"
5. Go to "Mambots", "Site Mambots"
6. Search for mfBlank
7. Publish the mambot

Install for Joomla 1.5

1. Log in to your back-end of the site
2. Go to "Extensions", "Install/Uninstall"
3. Click on "Browse" and navigate to the downloaded ZIP archive
4. Press "Upload File & Install"
5. Go to "Extensions", "Plugin Manager"
6. Search for mfBlank
7. Publish the plugin

Download

• mfBlank Download
• mfBlank for Joomla! 1.5 Download

For those users that have a dark background, you could try the white version of the external image:

Feel free to give feedback about this mambot/plugin. Enjoy using it!

Changelog

1. Added back-end parameters
2. Change icon color (Dark / Light)
3. Add/remove hover effect
4. Add/remove suffix icon

Interested in this topic? You might enjoy another article I've written called

• Enable Gravatar support in !JoomlaComment
• Flying Vector Stars: Free high res Photoshop brushes
• mfSlideBar: Sliding sidebar for Joomla modules
• mfDropCaps: Add your own drop caps to your Joomla articles
• Check where visitors came from & give them a message

Comments

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Took   | 90.176.171.xxx | 2008-03-03 06:13:28 great this one too marco Reply | Quote 1   0

Jon   | 83.233.98.xxx | 2008-03-03 14:11:44 What about us who has a dark template/background? The gif included is only useful for bright templates/backgrounds... Other than that, this was just what I was looking for! Thank you! Reply | Quote 0   0

Marco - Thanks! Added   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-03-03 15:27:35 Thanks for that, didn't think about it. I've added a "white" version of the GIF in the article for those Joomla! websites with a dark template. Just overwrite the one included in the package with the one from the article and it should display nicely. Reply | Quote 0   0

Toasty - mfBlank   | 67.163.124.xxx | 2008-03-03 16:02:50 Very, very nice and helpful extension!! Question: it does not appear work with the Weblinks component nor with secure socket (https)sites. Am I doing something wrong? Thank you for making this very useful tool available! Reply | Quote 0   0

Marco - Next version   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-03-03 17:55:02 Indeed, it doesn't work with the weblinks component. Reason for this is that the URL's generated by the component are actually internal URL's. They just re-direct to another website. This script can't check that functionality. I'll add a https:// support in the next version of this plugin, stay tuned. Reply | Quote 0   0

DaveM - Doesn't install for me (Jooml   | 67.161.13.xxx | 2008-03-04 04:57:56 I get the following error: Upload mambot - Upload Failed Unrecoverable error "PCLZIP_ERR_BAD_FORMAT (-10)" Any suggestions? Reply | Quote 1   0

DaveM - Unpacking & Repacking before i   | 67.161.13.xxx | 2008-03-04 06:00:43 OK now, thanks. Reply | Quote 0   0

DaveM - Hover behavior not optimal for   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-03-04 08:31:15 Our current template (aqualine from joomlashack) provides link hover behavior via CSS. In our case, the background changes from white to blue (and the text from blue to white). When using this mambot, the hover behavior changes the text background to white (while not changing the text color). White on white is not very easy to read. Reply | Quote 0   0

Marco - Cool effect!   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-03-04 08:34:24 Hi, Thanks for that information. I had to remove your code from the comments, because it destroyed my page-layout. Anyway, I think I'll add your hover effect to the next release, it'll look pretty Reply | Quote 0   0

DaveM - Hover behavior that works for   | 67.161.13.xxx | 2008-03-06 06:34:27 Here's the code that I added to mambots/system/mfblank.php (after the latter existing $mainframe->addCustomHeadTag call: $mainframe->addCustomHeadTag( 'table.contentpaneopen a.blank:hover{ padding-right:12px; background: #5D9599 url('. $mainframe->getCfg('live_site') . '/mambots/system/mfblank/icon_external.gif) no-repeat 100% 50%; }'); Reply | Quote 0   0

Devil - Only works...   | 92.192.0.xxx | 2008-03-27 17:55:33 ...on original com_content. When using an override of com_content and his views the plugin didnīt work. Reply | Quote 0   0

Yassine - Hi,   | 196.217.213.xxx | 2008-03-30 20:22:39 Hi, Thanks Reply | Quote 0   0

Rami - Bug in v1.1 for J1.5! if SEF i   | 87.9.189.xxx | 2008-04-06 14:59:11 Greetings, Great plugin, but i found a bug on a Joomla 1.5 if having SEF active, the plugin puts css for image with url(plugin/mfblank/..etc.etc), when in a SEF page (with url www.domain.com/content/section/page.html) the link should not be relative but absolute with "url(/plugin/etc..etc" it should also consider the joomla installations in subfolders, which should put url(/plugins/etc Thanks again Rami Reply | Quote 0   0

Qbik - problem with plugin   | 89.76.244.xxx | 2008-04-10 09:53:30 Hi nice plugin but how to start it to work Is there special way to write this external link? Reply | Quote 0   0

Marco - Published   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-04-10 11:43:45 Are you sure you have the plugin set to "published" ? Reply | Quote 0   0

Qbik - Yes it's published   | 89.76.244.xxx | 2008-04-10 12:18:11 Yes it's published Reply | Quote 0   0

Marco - Contact me   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-04-10 16:43:46 Hi, I don't see it published on your website that you placed in your first post. Please contact me through the contact-form + add the website where you're trying to enable this mambot please. Greetings,,, Reply | Quote 0   0

Yo Han - icon on the left side   | 84.194.96.xxx | 2008-04-12 19:56:03 It would be nice to be able to display the icon on the left side of the URL. I edited the sourcecode of mfblank.php quick & dirty as follows, but a setting in the backend would be easier. $css_code = 'table.contentpaneopen a.blank{ padding-left:16px; background:url(plugins/system/mfblank/icon_external_light.gif) no-repeat 0% 50%; }'; Reply | Quote 0   0

Marco - Thanks for the tip!   | 62.194.187.xxx | 2008-04-13 17:47:31 Thanks for the tip! I'll make sure to make an back-end parameter for this. Stay tuned.. Reply | Quote 0   0

Jon - DanceAddict.nu - Dance Communi   | 213.114.78.xxx | 2008-04-16 20:24:29 This is a great mambot! Why not enhance it further? I suggest it also adds the rel="nofollow" attribute to the external hyperlinks for good SEO (read more on the official Google Blog) Reply | Quote 2   0

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