WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Open in new window

for

From: Randall Pope
Date: Apr 13, 2010 10:24AM

I believe it would be best to allow the readers to pick the option that is
right for them instead of forcing one over the others.

For me as a deafblind person, I rather not open to a new window due to
confusion of which window that I'm on, not to mention of closing the wrong
window that I need to sign on again. Not having the statistic on hand, I
assumed the general audience would rather not open new windows. But again
this is my guess.

As for the PDF normally it opens in the same window unless the link is
specific to open a new window.

With Warm Regards,
Randall "Randy" Pope
American Association of the Deaf-Blind
Website: http://www.aadb.org

301 495-4402 VP/TTY
301 495-4403 Voice
301 495-4404 Fax
AIM: RandyAADB

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-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Moore,Michael
(DARS)
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 9:33 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Open in new window

Nancy asked
Today's standard is to open non-html pages as well as pages outside
the current website in a new window. How does that impact the
visually impaired and mobility impaired? Is it difficult to return to
the original page?

[Mike's Comments] For non-html content, particularly PDF opening outside of
the browser window is important to accessibility, particularly with screen
readers. The same often holds true for video content since the embedded
players are often inaccessible while most of the stand alone players work
well. With PDF, the users can control this behavior with the Adobe reader
forcing the content to open in the stand alone player.

As for returning to the original page, it is not difficult to use the
keyboard to get back to the original browser window. The biggest barrier is
an awareness that a new window has opened. Modern technologies notify the
user when a new window opens. That being said, when moving from html page to
html page, I prefer not to break the users back button and do not open the
content in a new window even if it is off of my site.

Mike