How to open a link from popup.html in a new tab.

There are two ways to open a new tab that has a URL clicked in popup.html.

Note: Without both of them, even if an user click a link, nothing occurs.

First, add target='_blank' to A tags.

<a href='http://qiita.com/' target='_blank'>Qiita</a>

Second, use chrome.tabs.create. This function can be used without requesting the 'tabs' permission in the manifest.json.

$(function() {
  $('a').click(function() {
    chrome.tabs.create({url: $(this).attr('href')});
    return false;
  });
});

The difference between them is whether the popup window is closed. The former close it and the later keep it opened.