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Re: New windows and protected resources

for

From: Heather P. Westerlund
Date: Nov 9, 2017 9:09AM

Thank you for your responses. It sounds like we have some flexibility here, which is nice. Many users will want to open multiple resources, so opening in a new tab may be best for user experience overall.

As for alerting the user, I know the ideal method in favor is adding some text to the link (e.g. "Nursing Database (link opens in a new window)"). However, when there are literally hundreds of these links listed on a page, it seems so redundant and make it more difficult for sighted users to read the actual resource name, in my opinion. Are there recommended alternative methods that are just as effective but less visually more concise?

It looks like the icon with alt text method is still completely acceptable: https://webaim.org/techniques/hypertext/hypertext_links#new_window

Cheers,

Heather Westerlund
Associate Director for IT, Collections, and Innovation
Walden University Library