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Re: opening new browser windows?

for

From: Mark Bryant
Date: Nov 6, 2003 2:43PM


Jared,

I agree with your comments, especially about the usability. I wish the WAI
was a little more usable so I can find the "little point" Jukka referred to.
It is easy to get lost with all the target links that seem to run in
circles.

I was curious if the "opens in a new widow" was part of the WAI or just a
result of the guidelines? What are your thoughts about letting users know
about the new window in the new window. For example, click a link the opens
a new window and then at the beginning, say "this is a new window".

-mark

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jared Smith" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: opening new browser windows?


> In response to several of the comments regarding new browser windows:
>
> > Any new window is bad.
>
> On this point, perhaps we can agree to disagree. From an instructional
> standpoint, WebAIM has chosen to provide external resources in new
> browser windows. Yes, we alert the user to the new window within the
> link label. No, we do not rely wholly on the unsupported TITLE tag. Yes,
we
> use javascript to open the new window, but if javascript is disabled,
> the link works normally. The href of the link points to the target
> page, but is overridden by the javascript, if enabled. The spawned
> window is a standard browser with all toolbars, menus, etc. Check any of
> the WebAIM pages to see our approach, which I believe to be a very
> effective method as verified through screen reader testing. I'll post a
> snippet of code below.
>
> > I think the guideline is quite clearly worded "do not cause pop-ups
> > or other windows to appear"
>
> This is the WCAG guideline, which perhaps, we have knowingly subverted.
Our
> goal is accessibility, not only only compliance with the outdated and
> rather ambiguous guidelines. Our choice in opening the new windows was
> also to help achieve increased usability and instructional soundness
> (something that many might argue with, but I'll stand by it).
> Javascript was used to reach xhtml strict compliance.
>
> > Changing the current window or popping up new windows can be very
> > disorienting to users who cannot see that this has happened.
>
> Indeed. Yet alerting them to the fact seems to alleviate the
> problems. The assumption that a pop-up window is fundamentally confusing
to a
> screen reader user is false. Just as sighted users have learned to
> deal with pop-ups (I counted 6 in the last 10 minutes of Google
> searching on this matter), screen reader users have as well. It
> typically takes but a moment for a screen reader user to determine
> that they have arrived in a pop-up window, at which time it takes a
> key press to close the window or move to the original one. When
> alerted, returning from any supplemental content in a pop-up window to
> the original page is as quick as the user can press ALT+TAB or ALT+F4.
> This approach often provides a more effective 'information architecture'
> than requiring the user to backtrack a step at a time to the point of
> origin.
>
> Still, the decision to use pop-up windows must be taken seriously and
> with much research and consideration, despite the opinions and
> standards of others.
>
> Pop-up window code:
> <a href="somepage.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href); return
false;">Link label
> <img src="new_window.gif" alt="opens in a new window" title="opens in a
new window" width="24" height="12" /></a>
>
> NOTE: We are currently reviewing the use of onclick and onkeypress as
> referenced in my other recent post.
>
> Jared Smith
> WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)
> Center for Persons with Disabilities
> Utah State University
>
>
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