Report and request - MidCoast Council

Council services - Christmas / New Year - MidCoast Council

Contact us - MidCoast Council

Councillor Digby Wilson - MidCoast Council

Councillor Alan Tickle - MidCoast Council

Councillor Janeece Irving - MidCoast Council

Councillor Mal McKenzie - MidCoast Council

Deputy Mayor Jeremy Miller - MidCoast Council

Mayor Claire Pontin - MidCoast Council

Home - MidCoast Council

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

February 2026

January 2026

MidCoast Council

	Title / URL	Issues
	Report and request - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Contact-us/Report-and-request	62
	Council services - Christmas / New Year - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Council-services-Christmas-New-Year	50
	Contact us - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Contact-us	48
	Councillor Digby Wilson - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Mayor-Councillors/Digby-Wilson	47
	Councillor Alan Tickle - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Mayor-Councillors/Alan-Tickle	47
	Councillor Janeece Irving - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Mayor-Councillors/Janeece-Irving	47
	Councillor Mal McKenzie - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Mayor-Councillors/Mal-McKenzie	47
	Deputy Mayor Jeremy Miller - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Mayor-Councillors/Jeremy-Miller	47
	Mayor Claire Pontin - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Mayor-Councillors/Claire-Pontin	47
	Home - MidCoast Councilwww.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Home	47

Ensure links explain they open in a new tab

MidCoast Council

Where this issue has occurred