WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Reason For Links Opening In New Window

for

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Jan 8, 2007 8:00AM

The questions that I ask myself about this general guideline for
accessibility are
1) Are there web applications that are similar to desktop applications
in terms of complexity (answer: yes)
2) Can I imagine operating complex apps with all user interface
appearing in the same window - no dialogs, no extra windows? (Answer:
no)

If you are prepared to say, as I am, that we need to be able to handle
new windows in web applications then question then becomes - what do we
need to do to make this accessible? When a new window in a browser
opens up assistive technologies do know about it and many notify the
user appropriately. These same tools allow users to get a list of all
open windows.

I'm not entirely clear on the real issues that remain -- I see the ones
that John mentions in his page, but am not convinced. What are the
other reasons why new windows are still "deemed harmful"?

AWK