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From: Heather P. Westerlund
Date: Thu, Nov 02 2017 8:09AM
Subject: New windows and protected resources
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Hi folks,

I'm new to the listserv; glad to be a new member.

I know best practice is to always open links in the same window, even for external sites. WCAG 2.0 makes an exception when users are on a secure site and opening an external link in the same window will disrupt the session. But what about the other way around? Libraries deal with this all over their websites because of the various protected resources we offer (i.e. databases).

So my question: If a user is on a website and they're clicking into a protected resource (requires login), is it better to open in the same window or a new tab? In this situation, using the back button doesn't work as expected (you have to double click quickly to get back to the website if it you just logged in) and it starts a new session if the user navigates back into to that same protected resource (the user doesn't haven't to log in again, but it starts a new session).

TIA!
Heather Westerlund
Associate Director for IT, Collections, and Innovation
Walden University Library<http://library.waldenu.edu/>;

612.312.1270 | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
100 Washington Ave S, Ste 900 | Minneapolis, MN 55401

From: Heather P. Westerlund
Date: Thu, Nov 09 2017 8:41AM
Subject: Re: New windows and protected resources
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Does anyone have any advice for this type of situation? Thank you,

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

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Thu, Nov 09 2017 8:55AM
Subject: Re: New windows and protected resources
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Heather,

From an accessibility perspective, I think doing either would be fine. From a general user perspective, you might want to look at the use cases. For example, is the user likely to want to return to the page where they launched the protected resource?

If the page includes a list of protected resources and users sometimes want to select multiple resources, it might make for a better user experience to open new resources in a new page--so the user can easily return to the list of resources to select another one.

However, if you do open a new tab or browser window, it probably would be a good idea to inform all users that will happen.

Thanks,
Tim

From: Heather P. Westerlund
Date: Thu, Nov 09 2017 9:09AM
Subject: Re: New windows and protected resources
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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

From: Bourne, Sarah (MASSIT)
Date: Thu, Nov 09 2017 10:18AM
Subject: Re: New windows and protected resources
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If all of the resources open in a new window, then perhaps stating that at the top of the list would be enough. But humans are pretty good at skipping over things like that - "banner blindness" as an extreme example. I would prefer having that noted at the link itself, for reassurance. The icon approach is good. Or do both:

Links on this page open in a new window [insert new window icon as illustration]
- Nursing database [icon]
- Banking database [icon]
etc.

If you aren't going to give people complete control (in this case, by determining how the link opens) you need to put a bit more effort into telling them what's going to happen.

sb

Sarah E. Bourne
Director of IT Accessibility
Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS)
1 Ashburton Place, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
Office: (617) 626-4502
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = | www.mass.gov/eotss

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Thu, Nov 09 2017 12:23PM
Subject: Re: New windows and protected resources
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Sarah's suggestion is great.
Make sure the icon has alt text or else use the title attribute of the
link to tell users the link opens in a new window (keyboard only users
do not always see the title attribute, but they see the icon, screen
readers are getting good at communicating the title attribute, and the
text at the top of the resource list also communicates the
information).


On 11/9/17, Bourne, Sarah (MASSIT) < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> If all of the resources open in a new window, then perhaps stating that at
> the top of the list would be enough. But humans are pretty good at skipping
> over things like that - "banner blindness" as an extreme example. I would
> prefer having that noted at the link itself, for reassurance. The icon
> approach is good. Or do both:
>
> Links on this page open in a new window [insert new window icon as
> illustration]
> - Nursing database [icon]
> - Banking database [icon]
> etc.
>
> If you aren't going to give people complete control (in this case, by
> determining how the link opens) you need to put a bit more effort into
> telling them what's going to happen.
>
> sb
>
> Sarah E. Bourne
> Director of IT Accessibility
> Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS)
> 1 Ashburton Place, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
> Office: (617) 626-4502
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = | www.mass.gov/eotss
>
>
>
> > > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

From: Heather P. Westerlund
Date: Thu, Nov 09 2017 2:41PM
Subject: Re: New windows and protected resources
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Great recommendations, thank you!

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