The reason you are unable to set social media links to open in new tabs through our header is because there is not a good way for us to indicate that on an icon-only button. We are trying to adhere to the WCAG recommended techniques of not opening links in new tabs or windows:
Typically, when we do have our application open a link in a new tab, we append a launch icon to the end of the link text. The launch icon itself is labelled "opens in new tab," which helps us avoid having the aria-label on the link, which would then trump the link text itself and fail: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/link-purpose-in-context. However, with icon-only buttons for social media, we label the icon based on the destination (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, etc.) to pass the link purpose guideline and since we cannot really append a second icon warning that the icon button would open in a new tab, we do not make it configurable.
Skip to content Page Contents This technique relates to: This technique applies to pages that open new windows. The objective of this technique is to limit the use of links or buttons that open new windows or tabs within Web content. In general, it is better not to open new windows and tabs since
Skip to content Page Contents This technique relates to: This technique applies to pages that open new windows. The objective of this technique is to provide a warning before automatically opening a new window or tab. Opening new windows automatically when a link is activated can be disorienting ...
The Success Criterion includes an exception for links for which the purpose of the link cannot be determined from the information on the Web page. In this situation, the person with the disability is not at a disadvantage; there is no additional context available to understand the link purpose ...
