Is it valid to use custom name in "target" attribute of <a> tag?

Question

I have code something like this:

<a href="http://google.com" target="_blank">google</a>
<a href="http://gmail.com" target="_blank">gmail</a>

Whenever I click one of the links, a new window or tab is created. I wanted the links to just use one.

So I changed my code like this:

<a href="http://google.com" target="google">google</a>
<a href="http://gmail.com" target="google">gmail</a>

It worked! It makes a new window just the first time either link is clicked, and after that clicks on the links appear in that window.

I think this is good, but I cannot find something about this in the W3C HTML 4 Spec. Is it valid and cross-browser compatible?

Answer 1

Yes, that's exactly how you would use it in this instance. The value of the target attribute specifies where to open the linked document and can be one of _blank, _self, _parent, _top, or framename, where framename would be the name of the frame or window to use.

Answer 2

Yes, that is perfectly valid and browser-compatible. The target specifies the name of the target window (or frame), which will be opened when it does not already exist.

The following have special meanings: _self, _blank, _parent, _top

Maybe you need a better HTML reference.