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Re: Links opening in new windows

for

From: Greg Gamble
Date: Aug 5, 2014 11:49AM

Does it matter if the link is opening a new window for a site outside the framework of the current site?

For instance, if a user clicks a link and is taken to a site not tied to the one that the user is currently at, as compared to one that is related to the current site ... like a subdomain.

Is a new window expected for one and the other not?


Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Andrew Kirkpatrick
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2014 10:25 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Links opening in new windows

There were a couple of different perspectives offered in the WCAG working group thread. It is worth noting that not everyone on that thread is a member of the working group, but even if you constrain the comments to people who are current members in good standing you'll find differences of opinion.

Karl submitted the question to the working group via the group's comment email address (thank you), so the group will be discussing the question and will be able to offer its view on the subject.

I'm sure that response will be shared here.

Thanks,
AWK

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2014 10:49 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Links opening in new windows

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