WPI Graduate & Professional Studies | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Employers & Partners | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

WPI Today | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

For the Media | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Online Graduate Programs | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Alumni | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Graduate Admissions | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Parents & Guardians | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Faculty & Staff Resources | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)

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

July 2025

June 2025

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Title / URL	Issues
WPI Graduate & Professional Studies \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/academics/graduate	53
Employers & Partners \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/offices/external-relations/corporate-relations/employers-partners	39
WPI Today \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/news	18
For the Media \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/news/media	16
Online Graduate Programs \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/academics/online	14
Alumni \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/alumni	13
Graduate Admissions \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/admissions/graduate	13
Parents & Guardians \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/parents	12
Faculty & Staff Resources \| Worcester Polytechnic Institutewww.wpi.edu/faculty-staff	11
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)www.wpi.edu/	8

Ensure links explain they open in a new tab

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Where this issue has occurred