Do not hijack clicks on external links

[joshsmith]

When I click on the link to go to your repo, I know I'm clicking a link that leaves code.gov. You even say so:

Hijacking links feels like a dark pattern on the web, where hyperlinks matter. If I mouse over a button and see the link, I expect to be taken to that link.

[lukad03]

@JoshSmith We fought the law and the law won unfortunately. We're hoping to get more leeway on this in the near future from the legal team. Stay tuned!

[Scotchester]

I thought @mattbailey0 was the law? :) He said a few months ago that this kind of nonsense was not required.

[Gabrielmtn]

@JoshSmith: Working in Finance, compliance-driven features like this are pretty common. As devs we've got to work within the legal limitations, to the best of our ability. I kind of feel for them. They likely didn't have a choice on a gov website, I'd bet.

[joshsmith]

@Gabrielmtn WhiteHouse.gov links to outside sites. I don't think this is true across all government websites.

@lukad03 certainly understand the constraints you're working under, but hopefully you can find some give on this issue.

[selik]

Remember, EAFP (Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than Permission). https://docs.python.org/3/glossary.html#term-eafp

[jbjonesjr]

Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than Permission

I'm not sure the IG agrees.

@lukad03 would this be something (the process and decision that you went through) that would be worth documenting for other groups making publicly available websites? I know the policy on this (clearly) varies.

[lukad03]

@JoshSmith It is true that many government websites don't have these popups, however the same legal team does not represent each of these properties. USDS, for example, has also fought this battle on their own website. While gaining some ground, links remain (such as the link to Medium in their footer).

@jbjonesjr I'll follow up with @mattbailey0 to see what, if anything, we can document that might help others.

It's worth noting that we may be able to rid of these modals altogether when we shift to hosting Code.gov in a more permanent home at GSA. In the meantime, we'll continue to work towards removing these from government-controlled properties on external sites (i.e. GitHub).

[andrewhughey]

If a risk-averse agency like the IRS is able to come to the conclusion that these kinds of messages aren't always necessary (based on feedback from our users, consultation with our legal team, and support from OFCIO), then surely a high-profile project aimed at a tech-savvy audience can reach a similar result.

Other agencies look towards USDS, 18F, and PIF efforts for the "right" way to do things. Is this the example we want everyone else to follow?

[hamitron]

Or at least fix the width of the modal?

[lukad03]

Link exceeding modal width issue is referenced here: https://github.com/presidential-innovation-fellows/code-gov-web/issues/133

[fjmorel]

And at least remove it on links to other .gov sites? For example, going to the homepage of any of the GSA projects. Even going to code.gov triggers it.

[jpyuda]

Let me be absolutely clear: OGC is wrong about this. It's worth re-litigating. Make them show you citations.

[lukad03]

@fjmorel That's a bug on the repo page due to the way the modal was configured at launch. It's on my radar.

@jpyuda That's great to hear. We'll look into this ASAP

[lukad03]

@fjmorel Opened an issue for the modals triggering on .gov/.mils here: https://github.com/presidential-innovation-fellows/code-gov-web/issues/169

[konklone]

OMB has released M-17-06, "Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and Digital Services". It contains this language about external links:

I used my biological optical character recognition devices to transcribe the most relevant text (emphasis mine):

Agencies should choose the best approach to identify external links to users in a way that minimizes the impact on the usability of their websites and digital services.

So hopefully this gives the code.gov team the latitude to resolve this issue in a way that comports with user expectations and modern user experience patterns on the web.

[joshsmith]

Y'all made my day here with that. 👏

[lukad03]

While we sort out the issues with legal, I'll be deploying some changes soon that remove the modals from .gov and .mil domains - https://github.com/presidential-innovation-fellows/code-gov-web/pull/178

[okamanda]

Links to .gov & .mil URLs no longer trigger modals.

[joshsmith]

I don't feel that the intent of this was met by removing .gov and .mil addresses only.

The policy memoranda above was quoted as saying:

Agencies should choose the best approach to identify external links to users in a way that minimizes the impact on the usability of their websites and digital services.

That threshold does not appear to be met from a usability perspective, speaking as the user who created the issue.

[mleibner]

@okamanda - I think you meant to close #178 (removing .gov & .mil modals) instead of this issue (removing all modals)

[okamanda]

@mleibner @JoshSmith You're right. thanks for the heads up!