Accessibility New Window Warnings

Àpèjúwe

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Success Criterion 3.2 (Predictable) specifies that web pages should appear and operate in predictable ways. It is a common practice to set links that go to off-site locations to open in a new window or tab when clicked. Opening new windows or tabs automatically when a link is activated can be disorienting for people who have difficulty perceiving visual content, and for some people with cognitive disabilities, if they are not warned in advance.

This plugin helps websites become more accessible and better meet WCAG guidelines for predicability by providing advanced warning if a link is going to open a new window or tab before the user clicks or activates it. Providing a warning allows the user to decide it they want to leave the current window, and the warning will help them find their way back, if they do decide they would like to go to the new window. It will help them understand that the “back” button will not work and that they have to return to the last window they had open, in order to find their previous location.

There are no settings in this plugin. Simply activate it and it will automatically find all links that open in a new window and add the following three fixes to each link:
1. A new window icon after the link text to denote that the link opens in a new window for sighted people.
2. A tooltip, visible on hover, that says “opens a new window.”
3. “Opens a new window” screen reader text that will be read out to blind or visually impaired people using screen readers immediately following the link anchor text.

Please note: new window warnings will be added to links and links that have been styled to look like buttons, including social media sharing and link icons. Depending upon what third party plugins are adding links to your site that open in new windows, some CSS styling may be required.

In addition to adding warnings for your users, this plugin integrates with the Accessibility Checker plugin; when Accessibility New Window Warnings is activated, it will automatically clear all “Link Opens New Window or Tab” warnings in Accessibility Checker scans of your website. Installing and activating this plugin is a great way to quickly remediate and remove a lot of open issues across you entire website.

The Accessibility New Window Warnings plugin is inspired by Techniques for WCAG 2.0 G201: Giving users advanced warning when opening a new window.

Localization

The Accessibility New Window Warnings plugin is ready for localization. We have added a Spanish translation and are open to more translations!

If you would like to contribute a translation to this plugin, please contact us or fork the repository on GitHub.

Àwọn àwòrán ìbòjú

  • Shows the new window icon being added to the end of a text link.
  • Shows the “opens a new window” tool tip visible on hover.
  • Shows the screen reader text “opens a new window” being added after the link anchor in the linkÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s HTML.
  • Shows the new window icon added to a button created with the block editor.
  • Shows the new window icons being added into social media sharing buttons from a third-party plugin.

Ìgbéwọlẹ̀

Getting started with Accessibility New Window Warnings is as easy as installing and activating the plugin. There are no settings to configure, it just works!

Installing Accessibility New Window Warnings Within WordPress

  1. Visit the plugins page within your dashboard and select ‘Add New’.
  2. Search for ‘Accessibility New Window Warnings’;
  3. On the Accessibility New Window Warnings plugin, click or activate the ‘Install’ button.
  4. Activate Accessibility New Window Warnings from your Plugins page.

Installing Accessibility New Window Warnings Manually

1.Upload the unzipped ‘accessibility-new-window-warnings’ folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory on your website via FTP.
2. Activate Accessibility New Window Warnings from your Plugins page.

FAQ

How does the plugin know which links open new windows?

The plugin looks for target="_blank" in your links. If target="_blank" is present then it will identify the link as opening a new window and automatically add the warning.

Is this compatible with the block editor or the classic editor or page builder XYZ?

Yes. No matter how youÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’re creating your content, this plugin will work. It uses javascript to identify the links and fix them as the page is rendered so it doesnÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’t matter what tool you used to build out your content.

The plugin adds new window icons to my social media icons and I donÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’t like how it looks!?

When it comes to accessibility, warning users about links opening in new tabs or windows applies to all links, not just links in your body text. Adding the visible icon is important for users with cognative disabilities or mobility challenges so they are warned about the new window before clicking on or activating links Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – itÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s not sufficient to just add screen reader text for blind and visually imparied users.

Depending upon how youÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’re adding linked icons, we understand that this can cause a less than ideal appearance. If you donÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’t like how the visible icon appears you have a couple of options: either change the link to not open in a new window or change the design of your social media or icon buttons either with that pluginÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s settings or custom CSS. ItÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s generally not considered correct to hide the visible icon.

Does this plugin make my website accessible?

This plugin can help to make your website more accessible by fixing a common issue, however it alone will not make your website accessible. True accessibility requires manual and automated testing and a human being making fixes in the website. While problems can be resolved with an automated tool such as this, not all accessibility problems can be identified automatically. Learn more about how to test your website for accessibility errors

How can I report security bugs?

You can report security bugs through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. The Patchstack team helps validate, triage and handle any security vulnerabilities. Report a security vulnerability.

Àwọn àgbéyẹ̀wò

Ògún 28, 2025
A great plugin—all you have to do is install it and it just works. I really like how it automatically fixes a big accessibility problem without having to do anything extra. TY!
Agẹmọ 15, 2024
I installed this on my blog as I wanted to ensure there was a visible indication when links opened external pages to better comply with accessibility guidelines without having to go through hundreds of old posts. Did the job and correctly and easily and automaticaly added the desired indicators, markup and icons.
Ka gbogbo àwọn àgbéyẹ̀wò 17

Àwọn Olùkópa & Olùgbéejáde

“Accessibility New Window Warnings” jẹ́ ètò ìṣàmúlò orísun ṣíṣí sílẹ̀. Àwọn ènìyàn wọ̀nyí ti ṣe ìkópa sí plugin yìí.

Àwọn Olùkópa

A ti túmọ̀ “Accessibility New Window Warnings” sí àwọn èdè agbègbè 7. Ọpẹ́lọpẹ́ fún àwọn atúmọ̀ èdè fún àwọn ìkópa wọn.

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Àkọsílẹ̀ àwọn àyípadà

1.3.0

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – support for modifier classes to prevent the icon or the tooltip showing
  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – translation support for the strings in the plugin
  • Fixed Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – potential overspill in tooltip when different languages are used
  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – tested up to version 7.0
  • Refactored Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – synced the code from the Accessibility Checker fix for the same plugin into this plugin.

1.2.0

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – improved placement of external link icons for Elementor button links
  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – CSS to vertically align external link icons within Elementor button links for better visual appearance

1.1.0

  • Fixed Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – tooltips can now be dismissed using the Escape key, ensuring better accessibility
  • Fixed Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – tooltip content is now hoverable, preventing accidental dismissal
  • Refactored Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – code for better performance and maintainability using modern JavaScript practices

1.0.10

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – detection and processing of window.open() links with consistent tooltip/ARIA label handling for both target=”_blank” and window.open()

1.0.9

  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – tested up to version

1.0.8

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – support for FacetWP dynamic content

1.0.7

  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – textdomain to plugin slug
  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – member variable doc comment
  • Removed Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – call to local languages folder

1.0.6

  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – tested up to version

1.0.5

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – localization support.
  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – Spanish translation.

1.0.4

  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – space between icon and link text moved to the icon pseudo class

1.0.3

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – class .anww-tooltip class to the tooltip
  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – inline styles to tooltip
  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – css clean up and improvements

1.0.2

  • Updated Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – on focus positioning to use offset

1.0.1

  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – support for image within links
  • Added Ìtumọ̀ Yorùbá: – check for aria-label on links

1.0.0

  • Everything is new and shiny.
  • We think itÌtumọ̀ Yorùbá: ’s awesome you want to make your website more accessible.