It''s not intuitive to have two hashes on any one method call. Most of the view helpers have a hash for method options followed by a hash for html options. I find it to be problematic at best. I think it would be best to have one hash and then add your html options as a hash entry. For example: <%= link_to "All Facilities", {:action => ''fac_log_all''}, {:target => ''_new''} %> would become <%= link_to "All Facilities", :action => ''fac_log_all'', :html => {:target => ''_new''} %> Or even better, any options that are not recognized by the method are automatically treated as html options: <%= link_to "All Facilities", :action => ''fac_log_all'', :target => ''_new'' %> I''ve seen some examples done both ways, but whatever it is it should be consistent.