Accessibility New Window Warnings
View on WordPress.orgScores higher than 41% of indexed plugins
About
Make links that open in a new window compliant with WCAG guidelines for accessibility by adding a warning for users.
What It Does
Accessibility New Window Warnings automatically detects links on your site that open in a new browser tab or window and appends a visible and screen-reader-friendly warning, such as "(opens in new window)". This brings those links into compliance with WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.2.5 (Change on Request) and helps users with cognitive or visual impairments anticipate the behaviour. It runs in the background with no manual configuration of individual links.
Who It's For
This plugin is a good fit for any organization that is bound by accessibility regulations, including U.S. ADA Title III, AODA in Ontario, Section 508, or EN 301 549, where opening links without warning is a documented audit failure. It is particularly useful for universities, government departments, law firms, healthcare providers, and large corporate sites that publish content authored by many contributors and cannot guarantee consistent link markup. Smaller blogs that simply want to avoid embarrassing accessibility complaints will also benefit from the set-and-forget approach.
Who Should Skip It
If your site rarely uses target="_blank" links, or if you already use a broader accessibility suite like WP Accessibility that handles new-window warnings alongside dozens of other fixes, this plugin is redundant. Developers who prefer to handle link warnings manually in their theme templates will not gain much from installing another plugin.
The Bottom Line
Accessibility New Window Warnings does one job and does it well, which is exactly what you want from a compliance utility. The 75.33 overall score reflects a small user base and an unproven support track record more than any product weakness. If you have many target="_blank" links and need a fast path to WCAG 3.2.5 compliance, it is a reasonable, lightweight choice; just be aware that you are relying on a solo maintainer with no public support history.
Related Plugins
Choose this instead if your biggest accessibility gap is missing alt text on images rather than new-window link warnings, and you want bulk remediation across your media library.
Pick this instead if you want a single plugin that handles new-window warnings along with skip links, focus styles, forced alt text, and many other WCAG fixes.
Choose this instead if your priority is a visitor-facing toolbar that lets users adjust font size, contrast, and spacing on demand.
Pick this instead if you need AI-generated, context-aware alt text for images at scale rather than new-window link warnings.
Choose this instead if you publish events and need an accessible calendar that outputs new-window-safe markup out of the box.