title: Why can't I click() links in jQuery?
body: <p>I came across a curiosity in jQuery: if I call <code>.click()</code> on a link the <code>click</code> event handlers are called, but the link isn't actually followed (as if it were clicked in the browser):</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;a id="link" href="http://www.google.com&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt;
  
  $("#link").click() // won't take me to Google
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But in plain Javascript, everything behaves as expected:</p>
  
  <pre><code>document.getElementById("link").click() // *will* take me to Google
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is apparently <a href="https://github.com/jquery/jquery/blob/master/src/event.js#L363" rel="nofollow">intentional behaviour</a> - but I'm struggling to work out why <code>click</code> was implemented like this - with a special exception for links?</p>
  
  <p>Fiddle here: <a href="http://jsfiddle.net/9a6sp/" rel="nofollow">http://jsfiddle.net/9a6sp/</a></p>
  
  <p>To clarify: I'm not asking how to click link in JS, but rather, why the default behaviour in jQuery is effectively that links <em>aren't clicked</em> when you call <code>.click()</code></p>