How to add a target _blank on a WordPress menu item or other elements

The new features of WordPress 5.x are great and allow us to customize the websites and manage the content flexibly.

The Menus module is one of those wonderful features, but by default, it doesn’t allow to specify some attributes of the menu items, like the “target”.

In my opinion, the WordPress administration area design is not usable (and not 508 compliant) and some buttons and options are difficult to find because they are normally in gray letters over light gray backgrounds. After seeking for around half an hour, I finally found the way to specify the target attribute of a link on the Menus module. I decided to share this because I think it’s something difficult to find but also something very easy to activate:

Step 1: Screen Options.

Go to the “Menus module” , under “Appearance”. Then, click on the “Screen Options” button, located on the top right corner.

On the Menus option, click on Select Options button

Step 2: Enable Link Target option.

Then, under “Show advanced menu properties”, check the “Link Target” option.

Check the Link Target option.

Step 3: Specify the target attribute on the WordPress menu.

On the Menu items options, a new field will be displayed – Link Target – to specify the target of the link.