�Closing a parent window with Javascript considered harmful�
2002-01-02, 16:00:00:

Okay, this is not right. It bodes poorly for the future of popup ads, too.

Ever wanted to pop up a child window, say, of your site (perhaps chromeless, even) and then close the parent window that pulled it?

We did at work for a project using the intranet. I was asked how we do this. I dug, and found out that this bit o' Javascript works:

parentwin = window.self; � � � � � // Make handle for current window named "parentwin"
parentwin.opener = window.self; � �// Tell current window that it opened itself
parentwin.close(); � � � � � � � � // Close window's parent (e.g. the current window)

It's so obvious that this is a bad idea, I never considered it. But it works.

Consider this - you go to a site from a search engine. The script sees you come from the site with a given search string, and decides to embed a javascript that pops up an ad window and closes your current window. Or given some other magic and the insecurity of javascript, all your other windows.

This is similar in level of evil to "smart links" in IE6.

Lord help us. The apocalypse is upon us.