Linn County Employment | Linn County Oregon

The Linn County Reporter Newsletter | Linn County Oregon

Job Openings | Linn County Oregon

Meetings | Linn County Oregon

Forms, Permits, and Applications | Linn County Oregon

Site map | Linn County Oregon

Pay Plans | Linn County Oregon

Linn County Law Library | Linn County Oregon

Departments & Offices | Linn County Oregon

May 20, 2025 Election Results | Linn County Oregon

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

August 2025

July 2025

Linn County, Oregon

	Title / URL	Issues
	Linn County Employment \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/administration/page/linn-county-employment	100
	The Linn County Reporter Newsletter \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/commissioners/page/linn-county-reporter-newsletter	100
	Job Openings \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/jobs	100
	Meetings \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/meetings	100
	Forms, Permits, and Applications \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/forms	100
	Site map \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/sitemap	74
	Pay Plans \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/administration/page/pay-plans	64
	Linn County Law Library \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/lawlibrary/page/linn-county-law-library	62
	Departments & Offices \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/departments	60
	May 20, 2025 Election Results \| Linn County Oregonwww.linncountyor.gov/clerk/page/may-20-2025-election-results	59

Ensure links explain they open in a new tab

Linn County, Oregon

Where this issue has occurred