JavaScript opens new window without warning Accessibility Checkpoint

Description

Avoid specifying a new window as the target of a link using JavaScript.

Help

Displaying new windows without warning can be very confusing to non-sighted and mobile users. Some screen readers and mobile devices give very little indication a new tab or window has opened. If you cannot avoid displaying a new window, insert an “opens in a new window” warning into the link text or add the warning to the link using a title attribute or aria-describedby attribute.

Applicable standards

• WCAG 2.0 F22 (Success Criteria: 3.2.5 level AAA)
• WCAG 2.1 F22 (Success Criteria: 3.2.5 level AAA)

Change history

• 6.49 May 2023 Improved detection.
• 6.47 Dec 2022 Improved event handler detection.
• 5.38 Jul 2020 Changed rule ID from AccWcag1-10.1.3 to AccHtmlLinkScriptNewWindow.
• 5.7 Dec 2014 Reduced memory usage on large pages.
• 5.4 Feb 2014 Fixed false positive.
• 3.5 Dec 2009 Added.
• 3.0 Dec 2008 Now triggers WCAG2 issue.

This page describes a web site issue detected in HTML documents by SortSite Desktop and OnDemand Suite.

Rule ID: AccHtmlLinkScriptNewWindow