Accessible indicator that links open in a new window

[brianteeman]

resolves #48387 which correctly identifies that the way we indicate a link is an external link is purely visually with a css inserted icon and is not is not conveyed to assistive technologies but incorrectly only identified it as a problem with the install from web - this problem is global

We should

1. Remove the css that inserted the icon
2. Use a system plugin that correctly inserts an icon and screenreader only text

As a first draft proof of concept I have created a Joomla plugin https://github.com/brianteeman/external-link/

If you test it then you will see two icons - one before and one after - that is because the removal of the first css only icon should be done in the template not the plugin and if the plugin is accepted then i would correct the template css

The plugin adds an inline SVG icon at the end of each matching link, along with screen-reader-only text announcing that the link opens in a new tab or window. The icon is hidden from assistive technology with aria-hidden="true"; the announcement is translated through Joomla's JavaScript language-string support.

The final visible word and indicator are kept together where it is safe to do so, helping prevent the icon from wrapping onto a line by itself. Long final strings and links without a suitable visible word use a safe fallback.

The plugin is enabled in the administrator. An option allows it to be enabled on the frontend as well - its an option because a template may already do its own thing for this.

A link can be exluded by adding the class="no-external-link-icon" - in core joomla we would want to add this class to the link in the mod_frontend module

[mbeganyi-a11y]

Cool idea to use a plugin. Would it help if I tested it out?

[chmst]

Every test helps. This is a discussion, tests do not count for github.

[brianteeman]

I await a decision from the maintainers and if they say yes I will make all the required changes to include it in core

[chmst]

Good idea and works in my test installation J6.2. As already mentioned, in the description, the css needs to be adapeted in core.

[chmst]

@brianteeman this change is accepted. Could you make the PR for the core? Then we can approve and test.

[brianteeman]

yes will do - thanks for letting me know

[brianteeman]

PR created #48828