Proposal: external link ↗

[rognoni]

Can we add the external link ↗
see this example:

<!-- Internal link -->
<a href="./about.html">About Page</a>

<!-- External link -->
<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
  External Site
</a>

(source: VanillaHTML)

[tonystar]

good idea!

can be added into Blades CSS, Fully compatible and actively maintained successor to Pico CSS.

[tonystar]

added to the Roadmap: anyblades/blades#163

[ricpastori]

The visual cue is useful, but I would avoid automatically inferring external links from href or target="_blank".

href^="http" also matches absolute same-origin URLs, while target="_blank" means “open a new browsing context”, not necessarily “external”. Generated ::after content also gives authors limited control over how the additional information is exposed to assistive technology.

An explicit opt-in using markup or rel="external" would be safer. For links opening a new tab, an aria-hidden arrow plus visually hidden explanatory text gives authors control over both the visual and accessible labels.