Media relations | The Pictet Group

London | UK | Asset and Wealth Management | Pictet

Contacts

The Pictet Group

Careers and job opportunities across the Group | Pictet

New York | United States | Asset Management | Pictet

Paris | France | Asset and Wealth Management | Pictet

Basel | Wealth Management and Asset Services | Pictet

Madrid | Spain | Asset and Wealth Management | Pictet

Pictet US | Leading European independent investment firm

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

June 2025

May 2025

Pictet Group

	Title / URL	Issues
	Media relations \| The Pictet Groupwww.pictet.com/us/en/media-relations	32
	London \| UK \| Asset and Wealth Management \| Pictetwww.pictet.com/us/en/offices/london	32
	Contactswww.pictet.com/us/en/contacts	31
	The Pictet Groupwww.pictet.com/us/en/about	30
	Careers and job opportunities across the Group \| Pictetwww.pictet.com/us/en/careers	29
	New York \| United States \| Asset Management \| Pictetwww.pictet.com/us/en/offices/new-york	28
	Paris \| France \| Asset and Wealth Management \| Pictetwww.pictet.com/us/en/offices/paris	28
	Basel \| Wealth Management and Asset Services \| Pictetwww.pictet.com/us/en/offices/basel	28
	Madrid \| Spain \| Asset and Wealth Management \| Pictetwww.pictet.com/us/en/offices/madrid	28
	Pictet US \| Leading European independent investment firmwww.pictet.com/us/en	28

Ensure links explain they open in a new tab

Pictet Group

Where this issue has occurred