On desktop, target="_blank" link should open new windows, not background tabs

It’s not a focus issue. The problem is that clicking the "Tweet" button requests opening the page in a popup window, which the browser doesn’t allow, so it falls back to opening it in a background tab. On desktop we plan to eventually support multiple windows (although the exact scope of the feature is still to be defined). On a phone, this would be the expected behaviour.

"On a phone, this would be the expected behaviour."

On a phone, I think it would be better if it opens a new tab (OK), and your focus is on that new tab. I think it's better, because if you're on your phone, and you click on the "twitter button", you can't immediatly realize if your click was ok. Somebody could click two o three time before realizing that webbrowser app already open two or three new tabs.

This is what actually happens with Firefox on Android and even with Explorer on Windows Phone. A new Ubuntu Phone user - coming from that user experience - should expect it.

Allowing popup windows to open in a foreground tab is probably not a good idea, think aggressive advertising and phishing.
What we really need is a UI animation when a background tab is being open so that the user knows it happened, and knows where to look for it. This is partially related to bug #1351205.

Good point. Maybe it only need a little blinking animation at the bottom of the browser, where you see the number of the open tabs (see my awful-five-minutes-attachment). And in the desktop view, the new background tab could blink for a two seconds.

That’s an interesting suggestion, I’m adding an ubuntu-ux task to the bug so that the design team can have a look and comment. Thanks Dario!