HTML question: sizing and positioning secondary/child windows?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

I know how to open an href hyperlink in a new window: by adding "target 
= _blank" to the tag. No problem so far. But can I tell the browser 
where to position the new window, and how large the widow should be 
without invoking Javascript? A CSS solution would also be possible, I 
suppose, but again, I'm trying for maximum simplicity and maximum 
browser compatibility. If either Javascript or CSS is the best or only 
recommendation, then I'll give them a try.

In effect, I want a solution that is as basic and browser-neutral as 
possible: the ideal solution would be a broadly supported switch for 
the href tag that looks something like (purely hypothetically) "HPOS = 
25%, VPOS = 25%, SIZE = 50%" to position the top left corner of the new 
window 25% of the way down from the top left corner of the screen, and 
size the window to 50% of the screen size.

I couldn't find information on any such settings for the HREF tag or 
any comparable commands for the header part of an HTML document. In 
effect, I want to more or less center a small child window on the 
screen, and size it to roughly half the size of the screen so the 
parent/originating window is still visible in the background. Think of 
a popup/secondary window in WinHelp and you'll get the idea.

So... any thoughts on a solution, or good resources for researching 
this kind of question? I've searched the usual suspects (W3C, HTML 
Authors Guild, Webmonkey) plus a more generic Google, and clearly I'm 
not using the right keywords or I'm suffering from an advanced virtual 
case of male refrigerator blindness. <g>

Thanks for any suggestions you can provide!

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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