To set up rules for links to Web sites outside the WCMS, select External Links under the Configuration tab. Follow the steps below to enter all of the necessary information.
1. Place an Icon Next to External Links, Mailto Links or Image Links: Check the appropriate boxes if you would like to identify these links with familiar icons.
2. Exclude Links with the Same Primary Domain: Check this box to exclude other sites built on the same master domain from these rules. This would mean, for example, that microsites or promotional pages created by Roche would not require a pop-up window when a user is directed to them from the main site.
3. Open External Links in a New Window: Check this box to allow the current site to remain open behind the new window while the user navigates around the external site.
4. CSS Matching: Use CSS selectors to exclude entirely or only look inside explicitly specified classes and IDs for external links. These will be passed straight to jQuery for matching.
5. When External Links Are Clicked: Choose what type of message, if any, should be displayed.
a. Page Title: If you choose a warning on a separate page, you will have the option of including a page title here.
b. Text/Warning Text: Enter the text you would like to have appear.
c. Tokens: Click a token to insert it into the field you’ve last clicked.
6. Redirect Timer: Leave the timer at 0 to allow the page to redirect immediately. To delay the redirect, enter the number of seconds you want to wait here.
7. Enable Aggressive Caching Compatibility: If you’re running an aggressive caching system like varnish or memcached, you may find that the ‘now-leaving’ page or colorbox popup gets cached and shows the same redirect tokens for all users. Enabling this option will cause the module to overcome this by using client side (javascript) code to dynamically replace the values when the page is loaded.
8. Section 508 Improvement for Link Indicators: Check this box to improve usability for screen readers by adding offscreen text to the span tags created by the External Link module.
9. Allow URL Parameters to Set Destination and Back Links: If you have advertisements and require a bumper for leaving the site, some advertisers use url parameters to set the destination. Select this checkbox to allow url parameters to set the destination and back links.
10. Pattern Matching: Include or exclude any links matching a specific pattern. This can allow you to link directly to microsites or corporate sites that don’t fall under the primary domain.
a. Exclude Links Matching the Pattern: Links entered here will not be treated as external links.
b. Include Links Matching the Pattern: These links will be treated as external.
c. Don’t Warn for Links Matching the Pattern: Links to these URLs will not receive a warning dialog box.
11. When finished, scroll to the bottom of the list and Save Configuration.