[Athen] Website accessibility

[Emily Singer Lucio]

Thank you Katherine.


Respectfully,

*Emily Singer Lucio She/Her/Hers*
ADA/504 Coordinator
University of Maryland, College Park
Office of Diversity & Inclusion
3123 Susquehanna Hall
4200 Leigh Road
College Park MD 20742
Tel:301 405-2841 | Fax:301 314-9992
Email: eslucio at umd.edu


On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 12:30 PM Katherine Deibel <kndeibel at metageekery.org>
wrote:


> Strictly WCAG, you need to provide an indication of this unexpected

> behavior as it creates a change of context for the user. Opening in a new

> link can be quite surprising to some users and cause some cognitive

> confusion, especially if not noticed when it happens. Accessibility is not

> only about screen reader users. Unexpected popups or new tabs has been a

> common source of irritation in my work with students and patrons with

> various cognitive disabilities. WCAG unfortunately does not do much (if

> anything) for cognitive supports, and many accessibility experts, myself

> included, highly recommend avoiding this whenever possible. Even providing

> an indication can be tricky. Many people use an icon but that icon is not

> universally understood.

>

>

>

> Frankly, I would pushback hard on the marketing claim and inquire why

> opening in a new tab is a best practice? In general, user experience

> studies <https://www.nngroup.com/articles/new-browser-windows-and-tabs/>

> find that users get greatly annoyed when this happens.

>

>

>

> However, you can do this accessibly. The following is my recommendation

> that goes beyond WCAG to support various cognitive issues as well:

>

>

>    1. The following must be done absolutely consistently.

>    2. *Every* link should have an accessible indication that the link

>    opens in a new tab.

>    3. If the indication is text, it needs to be visible to all users.

>    4. If the indication is an icon, that icon requires either:

>       - An accessible tooltip (not just using the *title* attribute)

>       - A legend explaining the icon’s meaning on every page

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Katherine “Kate” Deibel, PhD

>

> Library Accessibility Specialist

>

> Twitter: https://twitter.com/metageeky

> GitHub: https://github.com/metageeky

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Robert Spangler

> *Sent:* Thursday, April 21, 2022 12:20 PM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Website accessibility

>

>

>

> I'm curious to know why the practice of opening in a new link goes against

> accessibility recommendations.  As a screen reader user, the only issue I

> see is not being informed that the page opened in a new tab, and so I might

> think nothing has happened if a tab opened in the background and I wasn't

> informed.  Perhaps putting in parentheses "(opens in new tab)" somewhere,

> such as after the link text, would be a good compromise.

>

>

>

> Thanks,

>

> Robert

>

>

>

>

>

> On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 10:55 AM Emily Singer Lucio <eslucio at umd.edu>

> wrote:

>

> Hi all.

>

>

>

> I have a question.

>

>

>

> There is some disagreement about whether links should open in a new tab (a

> marketing best practice) or not (an accessibility recommendation) -- do you

> know if there is any happy compromise there?

>

>

> Respectfully,

>

>

>

> *Emily Singer Lucio She/Her/Hers*

>

> ADA/504 Coordinator

>

> University of Maryland, College Park

>

> Office of Diversity & Inclusion

>

> 3123 Susquehanna Hall

>

> 4200 Leigh Road

>

> College Park MD 20742

>

> Tel:301 405-2841 | Fax:301 314-9992

>

> Email: eslucio at umd.edu

>

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>

>

> --

>

> Robert Spangler

>

> Disability Services Technical Support Specialist

>

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>

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>

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>

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>

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>

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>

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