Integrate Varbase Bootstrap Button Link with External Links Do not alter links with a default target value option to comply with WCAG 2.2 Accessibility Standards

Problem/Motivation

Currently, the Varbase Bootstrap Button Link formatter does not respect the External Links module setting:

Do not alter links with a default target value.

When this option is enabled, the External Links module should ignore links that already have a defined target (_self, _blank, etc.).
However, buttons rendered by Varbase’s custom formatter don’t explicitly define a default target, leading to inconsistent behavior and accessibility warnings, such as:

Manual check: is opening a new window expected?

These occur when assistive technologies encounter unexpected new-window behavior.

Proposed resolution

Update the VarbaseBootstrapButtonLinkFormatter class to integrate properly with External Links logic:

If the button is set to open in a new window (target = 1) → set target="_blank"
If not → explicitly set target="_self" so the External Links module respects the “Do not alter links with a default target value” configuration.

This ensures both accessibility compliance and predictable link behavior.

Accessibility Impact

• Aligns with WCAG 2.2 standards for link behavior consistency.
• Removes “Manual check: is opening a new window expected?” warnings in accessibility audits.
• Prevents confusion for users relying on assistive technologies.

Remaining tasks

• ✅ File an issue about this project
• ✅ Addition/Change/Update/Fix to this project
• ✅ Testing to ensure no regression
• ➖ Automated unit/functional testing coverage
• ➖ Developer Documentation support on feature change/addition
• ➖ User Guide Documentation support on feature change/addition
• ➖ UX/UI designer responsibilities
• ➖ Accessibility and Readability
• ✅ Code review from 1 Varbase core team member
• ✅ Full testing and approval
• ✅ Credit contributors
• ✅ Review with the product owner
• ✅ Update Release Notes and Update Helper on new feature change/addition
• ✅ Release varbase-10.1.0-beta1, varbase_layout_builder-10.2.0-beta4, varbase-10.0.8, varbase_layout_builder-10.1.16

Varbase update type

• ✅ No Update
• ➖ Optional Update
• ➖ Forced Update
• ➖ Forced Update if Unchanged

User interface changes

• N/A

API changes

• N/A

Data model changes

• N/A

Release notes snippet

• [#3553410] fix(a11y): Integrate Varbase Bootstrap Button Link with External Links Do not alter links with a default target value option to comply with WCAG 2.2 Accessibility Standards