How to create a link that opens a new web page window or tab

In HTML (HyperText Markup Language), to create a new window or tab when a link is clicked, add target="_blank" attribute in the a href tag, as shown below.

<a href="https://www.computerhope.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Computer Hope</a>

Example

Below is an example of what the above code would create. If you click the link below, it opens the Computer Hope homepage in a new window or tab. Today, all new browsers open these types of links in new tabs.

Open Computer Hope in a new tab.

Tabnabbing security vulnerability

When opening a link is a new tab, the new tab gains partial access to the referring page through the window.opener object, which leaves the origin page vulnerable to tabnabbing.

Tabnabbing is a phishing technique that could change the origin page content or location, making it vulnerable to stealing user content. For example, if a link to a malicious page was opened in a new tab, it could switch the origin page's window.opener.location to a new location (e.g., fake login page). If the user attempted to log back into the site through the fake login page, they would have their login details shared with the attacker.

To prevent tabnabbing, add the rel="noopener no referrer" attribute to the links opening in a new tab. For example, below is the same code we used above with this attribute added to the tag.

<a href="https://www.computerhope.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="external">

For more information about this vulnerability, see: How to fix target="_blank" links: a security and performance issue in web pages.