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Thread: FW: Use of title attribute in links

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From: Geoff Deering
Date: Wed, Jan 08 2003 11:31PM
Subject: FW: Use of title attribute in links
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What is the best way (ways/methods) "to tell ALL users that the link will
open in a new window."?

Geoff

-----Original Message-----
From: Kynn Bartlett [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Tuesday, 7 January 2003 8:12 AM
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: Re: Use of title attribute in links

It's possible to do this, but it's better to tell ALL users that the
link will
open in a new window. I suggest using these types of "best practices"
which
surpass minimal accessibility requirements, instead of attempting to
meet the
"spirit of the law" for specific checkpoints.

--Kynn

On Sunday, January 5, 2003, at 11:02 AM, Ruth Stillman wrote:

> I am in the process of retro-fitting an application for a client so
> that
> it meets P1 and P2 accessibility. One of the biggest issues I have
> found
> is that the application uses a lot of javascript pop-ups for help text,
> glossary, etc. Is it possible to use the title attribute to alert
> users
> to the fact that the link will open in a new window? Is the title
> supported
> by screen readers?
--
Kynn Bartlett < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > http://kynn.com
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain http://idyllmtn.com
Author, CSS in 24 Hours http://cssin24hours.com


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From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Thu, Jan 09 2003 12:26AM
Subject: Re: FW: Use of title attribute in links
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On Thu, 9 Jan 2003, Geoff Deering wrote:

> What is the best way (ways/methods) "to tell ALL users that the link will
> open in a new window."?

On a page in English, the words "(The following link will open in a new
window.)" would presumably do that.

The problem, in addition to this being potentially distracting (especially
when one tries to read the text without considering any links right now),
is that it isn't always true. It will be false when the link is followed
in a way that overrides whatever the author has done to make the link open
in a new window. For example, the browser may have a setting that forbids
opening new windows except on explicit user command.

I'm afraid there's no way to give the message so that it will seen or
heard only when it is true. This should make authors think twice before
they try to make links open in new windows.

--
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/


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