Requires at least: 6.6

Tested up to: 6.9

Requires PHP: 7.4

License: GPL-2.0+

Plugin page: WebberZone Link Warnings | WordPress.org listing

Add accessible warnings for external links and target="_blank" links in WordPress — using icons, modals, or redirect screens.

WebberZone Link Warnings helps you warn users when links open in a new window or take them to external websites. It adds accessible indicators, confirmation dialogs, or redirect screens — helping you align with accessibility best practices without rewriting your content.

WebberZone Link Warnings uses WordPress's native WP_HTML_Tag_Processor class to parse and modify external and target="_blank" links in your content efficiently. It adds appropriate ARIA attributes, visual indicators, and optional JavaScript-based warnings based on your configuration. The plugin processes content during the the_content and the_excerpt filters, making it compatible with most themes and page builders. Your stored content remains untouched — the plugin only alters rendered output and does not interfere with REST API responses or admin editing screens.

• target="_blank" can disorient screen reader users
• Sudden context changes impact usability
• Accessibility audits often recommend user warnings
• Agencies and site owners often need documented user warnings during accessibility reviews

• Multiple Warning Methods: Choose from inline indicators, modal dialogs, or redirect screens — or combine them
• Flexible Scope: Target external links only, or external links plus all target="_blank" links
• Customizable Indicators: Configure visual icons, text, or screen reader-only warnings
• Modal Dialog: Show a confirmation dialog before users navigate to external sites with keyboard navigation and focus management
• Redirect Screen: Display an intermediate page with a configurable countdown before external navigation
• Domain Exclusions: Allow trusted domains to treat them as internal links
• Post Type Control: Enable warnings on specific post types only
• Built to support accessibility best practices for external link behaviour in WordPress: Adds screen reader text, ARIA attributes, and keyboard-friendly modal confirmations
• Setup Wizard: Get started quickly with a guided setup wizard on first activation
• Template Override: Override the redirect screen template in your theme for full design control
• RTL Support: Full right-to-left language support for all frontend and admin styles
• Multisite Compatible: Network activate and configure per-site settings
• Privacy Focused: Does not collect personal data or send link data to third-party services
• Performance Optimized: Uses WordPress's native WP_HTML_Tag_Processor class to process links at display time
• Developer-Friendly: Filters and actions allow developers to customize behavior, exclude domains, and output

This plugin assists with user awareness of external navigation. It does not automatically make your website fully accessible or legally compliant.

1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard
2. Search for "WebberZone Link Warnings"
3. Click Install Now and then Activate

1. Download the latest release from the releases page
2. Upload the webberzone-link-warnings folder to /wp-content/plugins/
3. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
4. Go to Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings to configure

After activation, the setup wizard guides you through the initial configuration. You can also configure the plugin at Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings:

1. Choose Warning Method

   • Inline indicators (visual and screen reader text)
   • Modal dialog (JavaScript confirmation)
   • Redirect screen (intermediate page)
   • Inline indicators + modal dialog
   • Inline indicators + redirect screen

2. Set Link Scope

   • External links only
   • External links and all target="_blank" links

3. Customize Indicators

   • Visual indicator type (icon, text, both, none)
   • Custom text for indicators
   • Screen reader text

4. Configure Modal/Redirect (if applicable)

   • Modal title and message
   • Button text
   • Redirect page content and countdown duration

5. Advanced Settings

   • Excluded domains
   • Enabled post types

To prevent icons from appearing on a specific link, add the class wzlw-no-icon to the link:

<a href="https://example.com" class="wzlw-no-icon">Link without icon</a>

To exclude all links inside a wrapper element (e.g. a navigation block or card), add the class wzlw-no-icon-wrapper to the containing element:

<div class="wzlw-no-icon-wrapper">
  <a href="https://example.com">Link without icon</a>
</div>

Both approaches exclude links from visual indicators while still maintaining other accessibility features like screen reader text and ARIA attributes.

You can choose from several preset icons or enter your own:

1. Go to Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings > Display tab
2. Find the "Icon Style" dropdown
3. Select from available options:
   • ↗ Arrow (North-East) - default
   • → Arrow (Right)
   • ⬈ Arrow (Up-Right)
   • ⧉ External Link Symbol
   • 🔗 Link Emoji
   • 🌐 Globe Emoji
   • * Asterisk
   • Custom (enter your own)

To use a custom icon:

1. Select "Custom" from the Icon Style dropdown
2. In the "Custom Icon" field, enter any Unicode symbol or emoji
3. Examples: →, ⇗, 🔗, 🌐, *, +

WebberZone Link Warnings Settings Page

For more screenshots, visit the WordPress plugin page.

WebberZone Link Warnings is one of the many plugins developed by WebberZone. Check out our other plugins:

• Contextual Related Posts - Display related posts on your WordPress blog and feed
• Top 10 - Track daily and total visits to your blog posts and display the popular and trending posts
• WebberZone Snippetz - The ultimate snippet manager for WordPress to create and manage custom HTML, CSS or JS code snippets
• Knowledge Base - Create a knowledge base or FAQ section on your WordPress site
• Better Search - Enhance the default WordPress search with contextual results sorted by relevance
• Auto-Close - Automatically close comments, pingbacks and trackbacks and manage revisions
• Popular Authors - Display popular authors in your WordPress widget
• Followed Posts - Show a list of related posts based on what your users have read

WebberZone Link Warnings is also available on GitHub. So, if you've got a cool feature you'd like to implement in the plugin or a bug you've fixed, consider forking the project and sending me a pull request.

Bug reports are welcomed on GitHub. Please note that GitHub is not a support forum, and issues that aren't suitably qualified as bugs will be closed.

• Documentation: webberzone.com/support/webberzone-link-warnings/
• WordPress Support Forum: wordpress.org/support/plugin/webberzone-link-warnings/
• GitHub Issues: github.com/WebberZone/webberzone-link-warnings/issues

WebberZone Link Warnings is available for translation directly on WordPress.org. Check out the official Translator Handbook to contribute.

This plugin is licensed under the GPL-2.0+ license.

WebberZone Link Warnings is developed and maintained by WebberZone.

This GitHub repository always holds the latest development version of the plugin. If you're looking for an official WordPress release, you can find this on the WordPress.org repository. In addition to stable releases, latest beta versions are made available under releases.