Why YaleSites Doesn't Fully Embrace Opening Links in New Tabs

On the YaleSites platform, we prioritize a seamless and intuitive user experience, which guides our decisions, including our stance on opening links in new tabs. 

Opening links in new tabs can disrupt the user’s journey, creating a disjointed experience. It’s akin to going on a guided tour, only to have your guide abruptly open a door and push you into another room without warning. We believe in providing a cohesive, uninterrupted experience, allowing users to navigate the site in a linear, intuitive manner. 

Keeping YaleSites Accessible 

From an accessibility standpoint, forcibly opening new tabs can be disorienting for some users, particularly those using screen readers or other assistive technologies. It can disrupt their understanding of the site’s structure and their place within it. 

Keeping our Users Empowered

open in a new tab screenshot example

When you create a link that opens in a new tab using the Text block, the platform will add an icon to notify your users.

We understand that there are situations where opening a link in a new tab is desirable. That’s why we support this capability in our general WYSIWYG block component “Text”. However, we believe in empowering our users with the choice of how they prefer to navigate our site. Instead of making decisions for them, we want the user to make the choice to use the tools available to them and let them take control of their own browsing experience. When you create a link that opens in a new tab using the Text block, the platform will add an icon to notify your users.

By doing this, we put the onus on the user to open links in a new tab via their preferred system method, reinforcing our commitment to offering a user-friendly, accessible platform that caters to the needs of all users. 

Additionally, opening links in new tabs introduces other usability concerns. According to Nielsen Norman Group: 

  • More windows or tabs increase the clutter of the user’s information space and require more effort to manage. 
  • New windows or tabs can cause disorientation, with users often not realizing that a new window or tab has opened. This problem is exacerbated on mobile, where the old window is never visible. 
  • Less-technical users struggle to manage multiple windows and tabs, especially on mobile. (On tablets, where users can have both multiple windows and tabs for the browser, it’s even more confusing.) 
  • New windows or tabs prevent the use of the Back button for returning to the previous page and force the user to spend effort to find their way back to the previous content. 
  • New windows or tabs are not inclusive for blind or low-vision users — especially when they open outside of the area that’s magnified. 

Looking forward 

As we look toward the future, we want to emphasize that the YaleSites platform is always evolving. Our policies, including our stance on opening links in new tabs, may change based on the feedback and needs of our users. Our primary goal is to make our platform as usable and accessible as possible. We truly believe that being flexible and responsive to our user’s needs is a step in the right direction, and we look forward to continuing to adapt and grow in order to better serve our community. 

Have feedback about the YaleSites Platform?

Help us improve YaleSites! Share your feedback for a better experience.

Provide Feedback