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MkDocs - Open in a new tab plugin

This plugin adds JS code to open outgoing links and PDFs in a new tab.

The automatic opening of links in a new tab is a common feature of modern websites. It is also a good practice for accessibility. However, it is not a default behavior of Markdown. This plugin adds a JavaScript code to your website that opens external links and PDFs in a new tab.

Look at the demo.

Installation

Install the plugin using pip from PyPI:

pip install mkdocs-open-in-new-tab

Usage

Add the plugin to your mkdocs.yml:

plugins:
  - search
  - open-in-new-tab

Configuration

The plugin supports the following configuration option:

  • add_icon: (default: false)
    • If set to true, the plugin will add an icon next to external links.

Testing

Link to Google and GitHub. Both should links should open in a new tab.

Relative link to Relative link should open in the same tab.

Sample PDF link to PDF should open in a new tab (pdf from here).

How does it work?

The plugin adds a JavaScript code to your website that opens external links and PDFs in a new tab. Injection of the code is done using the on_page_context hook. The code is injected into the <head> section of the page as a <script> dependency of the open_in_new_tab.js file. The code is automatically added to all pages of your website.

The function external_new_window checks if the link is external using the hostname property of the a element. If the link is external, the target attribute is set to _blank and the rel attribute is set to noopener. The noopener attribute is used to prevent the new tab from accessing the window.opener property and ensures that the original page will not be able to access the new tab.

The same way is used to open PDF links in a new tab.

Show source code

Look at this source open_in_new_tab.js: 

// Description: Open external links in a new tab and PDF links in a new tab
// Based on: https://jekyllcodex.org/without-plugin/new-window-fix/

// Open external links in a new window
function external_new_window() {
    for(let c = document.getElementsByTagName("a"), a = 0; a < c.length; a++) {
        let b = c[a];
        if(b.getAttribute("href") && b.host !== location.host) {
            b.target = "_blank";
            b.rel = "noopener";
        }
    }
}

// Open PDF links in a new window
function pdf_new_window() {
    if (!document.getElementsByTagName) {
        return false;
    }

    const extensions = ['.pdf', '.doc', '.docx', '.json', '.xls', '.xlsx', '.ppt', '.pptx', '.zip', '.rar', '.tar', '.gz', '.7z', '.bz2', '.xz', '.tgz', '.tar.gz'];
    let links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");

    for (let eleLink = 0; eleLink < links.length; eleLink++) {
        let href = links[eleLink].href.toLowerCase(); // Convert href to lowercase for case-insensitive matching

        if (extensions.some(ext => href.endsWith(ext))) {
            links[eleLink].onclick = function() {
                window.open(this.href);
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
}

function apply_rules() {
    external_new_window();
    pdf_new_window();
}

if (typeof document$ !== "undefined") {
    // Compatibility with mkdocs-material's instant loading feature
    document$.subscribe(function() {
        apply_rules();
    });
} else {
    // For browsers without mkdocs-material's instant loading feature
    document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
        apply_rules();
    });
}
`open_in_new_tab.css` (added when add_icon: true) 
/*
 * Materialize links that open in a new window with a right-up arrow icon
 * Author: @ebouchut (https://github.com/ebouchut)
 * https://github.com/JakubAndrysek/mkdocs-open-in-new-tab/issues/4
 */
 a[target="_blank"]::after {
    content: "↗";
    display: inline-block;
    margin-left: 0.2em;
    width: 1em;
    height: 1em;
}

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.