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Re: Links opening in new windows

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Aug 5, 2014 8:48AM

Karl Groves wrote:

> Do you think 3.2.2 includes links?

No.

3.2.2 is titled "On Input...". Links do not take input. It would,
however, be a 3.2.2 failure if the user is typing in a text box or
changes a select menu, for example, and a new window opens that they
have not been previously informed of.

> Do you think the warning(s) must be provided, as is the case in G201?

Yes, but only if you're talking about input or focus.

The example in G201 is incorrect. It uses a link with target="_blank"
as an example, but it's already been made clear that activating a link
is not "Input" or "Focus". G201 (which is an Advisory Technique, not a
Sufficient Technique) provides a technique for something that is not
even covered by the success criteria it is associated to! This would
be like having a technique for color contrast associated to the
success criteria for alternative text, except that color contrast is
at least covered elsewhere in WCAG. A requirement that users be
informed that links open in new windows is not.

Clearly several in the WCAG working group thread you posted seemed to
want to contort and reinterpret a success criterion (ANY success
criterion for that matter) to somehow force this in as a new failure.

Opening new windows is also not covered by 3.2.5. The other techniques
you list (H83, SCR24, and G200) are quite a stretch in their
applicability to this success criteria. 3.2.5 says that you can't
cause a change of context that is not user initiated. Opening a new
window at a random point in time would be a failure, but clicking a
link is an explicit user request for a change of context and would not
be, even if it opens a new window.

In reality, links that open in new windows without previous
notification can be confusing... but for everyone. It is a usability
issue, but it's not something addressed by WCAG (well, at least the
normative part, not counting these advisory techniques for which there
is no proper success criteria).

I can argue that there are situations where informing users that links
open in new windows could make an interface LESS usable and
accessible. It would be burdensome and unnecessary to indicate that
all links open in new windows in Gmail, for example, where all links
in messages do so consistently.

Jared