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Opening New Windows

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From: Sachin Pavitran
Date: Nov 7, 2003 11:15AM

I am Sachin Pavithran, the Assistive Technology specialist at WEBAIM. After
reading all the postings posted by developers about opening a new window in
a browser, here is my prospective about opening new windows being a JAWS
user.



When a new window is opened JAWS alerts the user that a new window is being
opened, which lets the screen reader user know what is going on the browser.
From my experiences on web pages that had new windows being opened to
external links, I always felt it was good way for me to keep track of where
I was. Now remember I am talking about only external links. When I go to an
external link from web site that I am on, it is easier for me to track back
to the web site that I was originally on because all I need to do is "ALT +
TAB" i.e. shuffle between the windows to get to the window of the website
that I was originally on. I know that I could always hit the back button and
try to find my way back to the original website, depending on how deep you
have gone into the website after choosing the external link it is very
confusing, time consuming, and frustrating to back track to the original web
page when you are using a screen reader. One thing I would recommend web
designers to do when they create new windows is that make sure that you
label the Title bar with a title that lets the user know which window they
are on. Screen reader users always check the title bar to see which window
they are on. This is a key information for a screen reader user to figure
out where they are on a website. I wouldn't recommend having a new window
open for anything other than an external link or for a window that contains
additional information about a particular link which has no other pages
linking from that window. When it comes down to my personal preference, I
would love to have new windows open for the reasons and choices mentioned
above to keep track of where I am on the internet.





******************************************************

Sachin Dev Pavithran
Training and Development Specialist
Center for Persons with Disabilities
6800 Old Main Hill,
Logan, Ut - 84322
U.S.A.

Work Phone : 1-(435)-797 0974

Email : <EMAIL REMOVED>

Visit Us at http://www.cpd.usu.edu

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