Elon University / University Advancement / Make A Gift

Elon University / Undergraduate Admissions / Meet Us

Elon Virtual Tour | Elon University

Elon University / Undergraduate Admissions / Apply

Elon University / About Elon / Campus Maps

Elon University / Carol Grotnes Belk Library

Elon University / Martha & Spencer Love School of Business

Elon University / Title IX

Elon University / Human Resources

Elon University / Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences

Avoid opening links in a new tab or window. Where you must do this, include an explanation
in the text of the link.

## Why this matters

Opening links in a new tab or window breaks the back button and can be disorientating for 
novice web users, and the visually impaired. Generally you should avoid opening links in a
new tab or window, but if you have to, you should include text explaining that this will happen.

## How to fix

An explanation must be clear in the accessible text for the link. For example:

```html
<a href="products.html" target="_blank">
    Products (opens in new window)
</a>
```

Or, for an image inside a link:

```html
<a href="products.html" target="_blank">
    <img src="products.jpg" alt="Products (opens in new window)">
</a>
```

Rather than updating all of your links manually to do this, you can add a simple CSS
selector, such as:

```css
a[target="_blank"]:after {
    content: " (opens in new window)";
}
```

Note that doing this with an icon, is not sufficient to pass this check. The text must be
readable by screen readers.

Alternatively you can override the link text for accessible technologies (like screenreaders),
so that the appearance of the link does not change. For example:

```html
<a href="products.html" target="_blank" aria-label="Products (opens in new window)">
    Products
</a>
```

Note that if you do this, the `aria-label` will replace the text content of the link completely,
so it must still make sense in isolation.

## Terminology

Although it is common to say "opens in new window", almost all browsers now use tabs, and
so this terminology is potentially confusing. You may prefer: "opens in new tab".

## Methodology

1. Silktide considers all links on a page with a `target` attribute of `_blank`.
2. For each link, Silktide considers the screen-readable text of the link, which includes:
   * The text content of the link
   * Any `alt` text inside any images inside the link
   * Any `aria-label` or `aria-labelled-by` text
   * The `content` of the pseudo-elements `:before` and `:after`
3. This text is analysed for the presence of common text, including "opens new tab"
    and "opens new window". If the text is not found, the link fails the test.

## Further reading

Generally best practice is to avoid opening links in a new tab or window.  

The W3C provides detailed guidance on 
[when opening a link in a new window may be appropriate](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G200.html).

link-text-explains-open-in-new-window

January 2026

December 2025

Elon University

Title / URL	Issues
Elon University / University Advancement / Make A Giftwww.elon.edu/u/advancement/ways-to-give/make-a-gift/	50
Elon University / Undergraduate Admissions / Meet Uswww.elon.edu/u/admissions/undergraduate/meet-us/	22
Elon Virtual Tour \| Elon Universitywww.elon.edu/u/admissions/undergraduate/meet-us/video-tour/	21
Elon University / Undergraduate Admissions / Applywww.elon.edu/u/admissions/undergraduate/apply/	20
Elon University / About Elon / Campus Mapswww.elon.edu/u/about/campus/campus-maps/	14
Elon University / Carol Grotnes Belk Librarywww.elon.edu/u/library/	13
Elon University / Martha & Spencer Love School of Businesswww.elon.edu/u/academics/business/	13
Elon University / Title IXwww.elon.edu/u/title-ix/	12
Elon University / Human Resourceswww.elon.edu/u/fa/hr/	12
Elon University / Elon College, the College of Arts & Scienceswww.elon.edu/u/academics/arts-and-sciences/	9

Ensure links explain they open in a new tab

Elon University

Where this issue has occurred