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Re: Popup windows and JAWS

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From: Léonie Watson
Date: Oct 28, 2009 3:40AM

If the alert for a pop-up window is placed inside the link text, please include it after the important link words."

This is good advice. Looking at the wider picture though, it represents one of the quandaries for web accessibility at the moment. Warning people about new windows is undoubtedly helpful for some. For a screen reader user, the act of reading a piece of text with several such inline links, can be a dreadful experience. For example:

"The first house build on the site of <Buckingham Palace (Opens new window)> is believed to be <Goring House (Opens new window)>, built by <Sir William Blake (Opens new window)> in around 1624."

Just now, I don't know what the elegant solution might be. Some mechanism for turning on/off the notifications perhaps? That too opens up the possibility of making the interface too complex for some people though, so perhaps there is another solution?


Regards,
Léonie.

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Nomensa - humanising technology

Léonie Watson | Director of Accessibility
t. +44 (0)117 929 7333