diff --git a/include/bbcode.php b/include/bbcode.php
index ee066f05a..186caad7b 100644
--- a/include/bbcode.php
+++ b/include/bbcode.php
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ function bb_ShareAttributes($match) {
 	if ($avatar != "")
 		$headline .= '<img src="'.$avatar.'" height="32" width="32" >';
 
-	$headline .= sprintf(t('<span><a href="%s" target="external-link">%s</a> wrote the following <a href="%s" target="external-link">post</a>'.$reldate.':</span>'), $profile, $author, $link);
+	$headline .= sprintf(t('<span><a href="%s" target="_blank">%s</a> wrote the following <a href="%s" target="_blank">post</a>'.$reldate.':</span>'), $profile, $author, $link);
 
         $headline .= "</div>";
 
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ function bb_ShareAttributesDiaspora($match) {
 	$headline .= '<span><b>'.html_entity_decode("&#x2672; ", ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8').$userid.':</b></span>';
 	//$headline .= sprintf(t('<span><b>'.
 	//		html_entity_decode("&#x2672; ", ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8').
-	//		'<a href="%s" target="external-link">%s</a>%s:</b></span>'), $profile, $userid, $posted);
+	//		'<a href="%s" target="_blank">%s</a>%s:</b></span>'), $profile, $userid, $posted);
         $headline .= "</div>";
 
 	$text = trim($match[1]);
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ function bb_ShareAttributesForExport($match) {
 	$headline = '<div class="shared_header">';
 	$headline .= sprintf(t('<span><b>'.
 			html_entity_decode("&#x2672; ", ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8').
-			'<a href="%s" target="external-link">%s</a>%s:</b></span>'), $link, $userid, $posted);
+			'<a href="%s" target="_blank">%s</a>%s:</b></span>'), $link, $userid, $posted);
         $headline .= "</div>";
 
 	$text = trim($match[1]);
@@ -533,6 +533,23 @@ function GetProfileUsername($profile, $username) {
 	return($username);
 }
 
+function RemovePictureLinks($match) {
+	$ch = @curl_init($match[2]);
+	@curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true);
+	@curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
+	@curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Friendica)");
+	@curl_exec($ch);
+	$curl_info = @curl_getinfo($ch);
+
+	if (substr($curl_info["content_type"], 0, 6) == "image/")
+		$text = "[url=".$match[2]."]".$match[2]."[/url]";
+	else
+		$text = "[url=".$match[1]."]".$match[1]."[/url]";
+
+	return($text);
+}
+
+
 	// BBcode 2 HTML was written by WAY2WEB.net
 	// extended to work with Mistpark/Friendica - Mike Macgirvin
 
@@ -632,19 +649,21 @@ function bbcode($Text,$preserve_nl = false, $tryoembed = true, $simplehtml = fal
 
 	// if the HTML is used to generate plain text, then don't do this search, but replace all URL of that kind to text
 	if (!$forplaintext)
-		$Text = preg_replace("/([^\]\='".'"'."]|^)(https?\:\/\/[a-zA-Z0-9\:\/\-\?\&\;\.\=\_\~\#\%\$\!\+\,]+)/ism", '$1<a href="$2" target="external-link">$2</a>', $Text);
-	else
-		$Text = preg_replace("(\[url\](.*?)\[\/url\])ism"," $1 ",$Text);
+		$Text = preg_replace("/([^\]\='".'"'."]|^)(https?\:\/\/[a-zA-Z0-9\:\/\-\?\&\;\.\=\_\~\#\%\$\!\+\,]+)/ism", '$1<a href="$2" target="_blank">$2</a>', $Text);
+	else {
+		$Text = preg_replace("(\[url\]([$URLSearchString]*)\[\/url\])ism"," $1 ",$Text);
+		$Text = preg_replace_callback("&\[url=([^\[\]]*)\]\[img\](.*)\[\/img\]\[\/url\]&Usi", 'RemovePictureLinks', $Text);
+	}
 
 	if ($tryoembed)
 		$Text = preg_replace_callback("/\[url\]([$URLSearchString]*)\[\/url\]/ism",'tryoembed',$Text);
 
-	$Text = preg_replace("/\[url\]([$URLSearchString]*)\[\/url\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="external-link">$1</a>', $Text);
-	$Text = preg_replace("/\[url\=([$URLSearchString]*)\](.*?)\[\/url\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="external-link">$2</a>', $Text);
+	$Text = preg_replace("/\[url\]([$URLSearchString]*)\[\/url\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="_blank">$1</a>', $Text);
+	$Text = preg_replace("/\[url\=([$URLSearchString]*)\](.*?)\[\/url\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="_blank">$2</a>', $Text);
 	//$Text = preg_replace("/\[url\=([$URLSearchString]*)\]([$URLSearchString]*)\[\/url\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="_blank">$2</a>', $Text);
 
 	// Red compatibility, though the link can't be authenticated on Friendica
-	$Text = preg_replace("/\[zrl\=([$URLSearchString]*)\](.*?)\[\/zrl\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="external-link">$2</a>', $Text);
+	$Text = preg_replace("/\[zrl\=([$URLSearchString]*)\](.*?)\[\/zrl\]/ism", '<a href="$1" target="_blank">$2</a>', $Text);
 
 
 	// we may need to restrict this further if it picks up too many strays
@@ -812,9 +831,9 @@ function bbcode($Text,$preserve_nl = false, $tryoembed = true, $simplehtml = fal
 		$Text = preg_replace_callback("/\[audio\](.*?)\[\/audio\]/ism", 'tryoembed', $Text);
 	} else {
 		$Text = preg_replace("/\[video\](.*?)\[\/video\]/",
-					'<a href="$1" target="external-link">$1</a>', $Text);
+					'<a href="$1" target="_blank">$1</a>', $Text);
 		$Text = preg_replace("/\[audio\](.*?)\[\/audio\]/",
-					'<a href="$1" target="external-link">$1</a>', $Text);
+					'<a href="$1" target="_blank">$1</a>', $Text);
 	}
 
 	// html5 video and audio
@@ -840,7 +859,7 @@ function bbcode($Text,$preserve_nl = false, $tryoembed = true, $simplehtml = fal
 		$Text = preg_replace("/\[youtube\]([A-Za-z0-9\-_=]+)(.*?)\[\/youtube\]/ism", '<iframe width="' . $a->videowidth . '" height="' . $a->videoheight . '" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/$1" frameborder="0" ></iframe>', $Text);
 	else
 		$Text = preg_replace("/\[youtube\]([A-Za-z0-9\-_=]+)(.*?)\[\/youtube\]/ism",
-					'<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=$1" target="external-link">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=$1</a>', $Text);
+					'<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=$1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=$1</a>', $Text);
 
 	if ($tryoembed) {
 		$Text = preg_replace_callback("/\[vimeo\](https?:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/[0-9]+).*?\[\/vimeo\]/ism",'tryoembed',$Text); 
@@ -854,7 +873,7 @@ function bbcode($Text,$preserve_nl = false, $tryoembed = true, $simplehtml = fal
 		$Text = preg_replace("/\[vimeo\]([0-9]+)(.*?)\[\/vimeo\]/ism", '<iframe width="' . $a->videowidth . '" height="' . $a->videoheight . '" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/$1" frameborder="0" ></iframe>', $Text);
 	else
 		$Text = preg_replace("/\[vimeo\]([0-9]+)(.*?)\[\/vimeo\]/ism",
-					'<a href="https://vimeo.com/$1" target="external-link">https://vimeo.com/$1</a>', $Text);
+					'<a href="https://vimeo.com/$1" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/$1</a>', $Text);
 
 //	$Text = preg_replace("/\[youtube\](.*?)\[\/youtube\]/", '<object width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/$1" ><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/$1"></param><!--[if IE]><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/$1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" /><![endif]--></object>', $Text);
 
diff --git a/include/conversation.php b/include/conversation.php
index 5b9a11bde..8e868afec 100644
--- a/include/conversation.php
+++ b/include/conversation.php
@@ -558,13 +558,13 @@ function conversation(&$a, $items, $mode, $update, $preview = false) {
 						$tag["url"] = $searchpath.strtolower($tag["term"]);
 
 					if ($tag["type"] == TERM_HASHTAG) {
-						$hashtags[] = "#<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"external-link\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
+						$hashtags[] = "#<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"_blank\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
 						$prefix = "#";
 					} elseif ($tag["type"] == TERM_MENTION) {
-						$mentions[] = "@<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"external-link\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
+						$mentions[] = "@<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"_blank\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
 						$prefix = "@";
 					}
-					$tags[] = $prefix."<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"external-link\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
+					$tags[] = $prefix."<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"_blank\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
 				}
 
 				/*foreach(explode(',',$item['tag']) as $tag){
diff --git a/include/text.php b/include/text.php
index a47e352ba..0638f9e24 100644
--- a/include/text.php
+++ b/include/text.php
@@ -964,7 +964,7 @@ if(! function_exists('linkify')) {
  * @param string $s
  */
 function linkify($s) {
-	$s = preg_replace("/(https?\:\/\/[a-zA-Z0-9\:\/\-\?\&\;\.\=\_\~\#\'\%\$\!\+]*)/", ' <a href="$1" target="external-link">$1</a>', $s);
+	$s = preg_replace("/(https?\:\/\/[a-zA-Z0-9\:\/\-\?\&\;\.\=\_\~\#\'\%\$\!\+]*)/", ' <a href="$1" target="_blank">$1</a>', $s);
 	$s = preg_replace("/\<(.*?)(src|href)=(.*?)\&amp\;(.*?)\>/ism",'<$1$2=$3&$4>',$s);
 	return($s);
 }}
@@ -1297,13 +1297,13 @@ function prepare_body(&$item,$attach = false) {
 				$tag["url"] = $searchpath.strtolower($tag["term"]);
 
 			if ($tag["type"] == TERM_HASHTAG) {
-				$hashtags[] = "#<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"external-link\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
+				$hashtags[] = "#<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"_blank\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
 				$prefix = "#";
 			} elseif ($tag["type"] == TERM_MENTION) {
-				$mentions[] = "@<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"external-link\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
+				$mentions[] = "@<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"_blank\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
 				$prefix = "@";
 			}
-			$tags[] = $prefix."<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"external-link\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
+			$tags[] = $prefix."<a href=\"".$tag["url"]."\" target=\"_blank\">".$tag["term"]."</a>";
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1414,7 +1414,7 @@ function prepare_body(&$item,$attach = false) {
 					$title = ((strlen(trim($mtch[4]))) ? escape_tags(trim($mtch[4])) : escape_tags($mtch[1]));
 					$title .= ' ' . $mtch[2] . ' ' . t('bytes');
 
-					$as .= '<a href="' . strip_tags($the_url) . '" title="' . $title . '" class="attachlink" target="external-link" >' . $icon . '</a>';
+					$as .= '<a href="' . strip_tags($the_url) . '" title="' . $title . '" class="attachlink" target="_blank" >' . $icon . '</a>';
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/view/templates/event.tpl b/view/templates/event.tpl
index 4788dcb38..961f0155b 100644
--- a/view/templates/event.tpl
+++ b/view/templates/event.tpl
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 	
 	{{if $event.item.author_name}}<a href="{{$event.item.author_link}}" ><img src="{{$event.item.author_avatar}}" height="32" width="32" />{{$event.item.author_name}}</a>{{/if}}
 	{{$event.html}}
-	{{if $event.item.plink}}<a href="{{$event.plink.0}}" title="{{$event.plink.1}}" target="external-link" class="plink-event-link icon s22 remote-link"></a>{{/if}}
+	{{if $event.item.plink}}<a href="{{$event.plink.0}}" title="{{$event.plink.1}}" target="_blank" class="plink-event-link icon s22 remote-link"></a>{{/if}}
 	{{if $event.edit}}<a href="{{$event.edit.0}}" title="{{$event.edit.1}}" class="edit-event-link icon s22 pencil"></a>{{/if}}
 	</div>
 	<div class="clear"></div>
diff --git a/view/templates/events.tpl b/view/templates/events.tpl
index 054200ca2..f798a8e37 100644
--- a/view/templates/events.tpl
+++ b/view/templates/events.tpl
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 	{{if $event.is_first}}<hr /><a name="link-{{$event.j}}" ><div class="event-list-date">{{$event.d}}</div></a>{{/if}}
 	{{if $event.item.author_name}}<a href="{{$event.item.author_link}}" ><img src="{{$event.item.author_avatar}}" height="32" width="32" />{{$event.item.author_name}}</a>{{/if}}
 	{{$event.html}}
-	{{if $event.item.plink}}<a href="{{$event.plink.0}}" title="{{$event.plink.1}}" target="external-link" class="plink-event-link icon s22 remote-link"></a>{{/if}}
+	{{if $event.item.plink}}<a href="{{$event.plink.0}}" title="{{$event.plink.1}}" target="_blank" class="plink-event-link icon s22 remote-link"></a>{{/if}}
 	{{if $event.edit}}<a href="{{$event.edit.0}}" title="{{$event.edit.1}}" class="edit-event-link icon s22 pencil"></a>{{/if}}
 	</div>
 	<div class="clear"></div>
diff --git a/view/templates/profile_vcard.tpl b/view/templates/profile_vcard.tpl
index 3f4d3c711..4734f5525 100644
--- a/view/templates/profile_vcard.tpl
+++ b/view/templates/profile_vcard.tpl
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 	{{if $marital}}<dl class="marital"><dt class="marital-label"><span class="heart">&hearts;</span>{{$marital}}</dt><dd class="marital-text">{{$profile.marital}}</dd></dl>{{/if}}
 
-	{{if $homepage}}<dl class="homepage"><dt class="homepage-label">{{$homepage}}</dt><dd class="homepage-url"><a href="{{$profile.homepage}}" target="external-link">{{$profile.homepage}}</a></dd></dl>{{/if}}
+	{{if $homepage}}<dl class="homepage"><dt class="homepage-label">{{$homepage}}</dt><dd class="homepage-url"><a href="{{$profile.homepage}}" target="_blank">{{$profile.homepage}}</a></dd></dl>{{/if}}
 
 	{{include file="diaspora_vcard.tpl"}}
 	
diff --git a/view/templates/wall_thread.tpl b/view/templates/wall_thread.tpl
index c0e30c4cb..6dc9e5c3a 100644
--- a/view/templates/wall_thread.tpl
+++ b/view/templates/wall_thread.tpl
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
 			</div>
 			{{/if}}
 			{{if $item.plink}}
-				<div class="wall-item-links-wrapper"><a href="{{$item.plink.href}}" title="{{$item.plink.title}}" target="external-link" class="icon remote-link{{$item.sparkle}}"></a></div>
+				<div class="wall-item-links-wrapper"><a href="{{$item.plink.href}}" title="{{$item.plink.title}}" target="_blank" class="icon remote-link{{$item.sparkle}}"></a></div>
 			{{/if}}
 			{{if $item.edpost}}
 				<a class="editpost icon pencil" href="{{$item.edpost.0}}" title="{{$item.edpost.1}}"></a>
diff --git a/view/theme/vier/templates/profile_vcard.tpl b/view/theme/vier/templates/profile_vcard.tpl
index 9e0da287c..0a5464252 100644
--- a/view/theme/vier/templates/profile_vcard.tpl
+++ b/view/theme/vier/templates/profile_vcard.tpl
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 
 	{{if $marital}}<dl class="marital"><dt class="marital-label"><span class="heart">&hearts;</span>{{$marital}}</dt><dd class="marital-text">{{$profile.marital}}</dd></dl>{{/if}}
 
-	{{if $homepage}}<dl class="homepage"><dt class="homepage-label">{{$homepage}}</dt><dd class="homepage-url"><a href="{{$profile.homepage}}" target="external-link">{{$profile.homepage}}</a></dd></dl>{{/if}}
+	{{if $homepage}}<dl class="homepage"><dt class="homepage-label">{{$homepage}}</dt><dd class="homepage-url"><a href="{{$profile.homepage}}" target="_blank">{{$profile.homepage}}</a></dd></dl>{{/if}}
 
 	{{include file="diaspora_vcard.tpl"}}