Fix external links not opening in new tabs after instant navigation

[bharvey88]

newtab.js runs once at initial page load. With navigation.instant enabled, Material swaps page content without a full reload, so external links only get target="_blank" and rel="noopener noreferrer" on the first page a visitor lands on. After any in-site navigation, external links open in the same tab.

To reproduce: open any page on kno.wled.ge, click a sidebar link, then click an external link (for example a GitHub link). It replaces the docs tab instead of opening a new one.

This subscribes the link decoration to Material's document$ observable, which emits on every page change including the first. classList.add replaces the string concatenation so classes aren't duplicated when the landing page is decorated again.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Enhancements
  • Improved handling and styling of external and local links.
  • External links now open in a new tab with enhanced security protections.
  • Link behavior remains consistent when navigating through dynamically updated documentation pages.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

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Run ID: b39c5c06-4c7b-4b05-8c96-0eecf1cec4a6

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 1583203 and ab96bb8.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• docs/assets/js/newtab.js

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Walkthrough

The link decoration script now uses a named function, classList.add, and secure attributes for cross-host links. It subscribes to window.document$ when available for navigation updates, with a one-time initialization fallback.

Changes

Link Decoration

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Link decoration and navigation updates docs/assets/js/newtab.js	Refactors link processing into decorateLinks(), applies link classes with classList.add, preserves cross-host target and security attributes, and supports repeated decoration through window.document$ or one-time initialization.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~15 minutes

Poem

I’m a rabbit hopping through each link,
Adding classes quicker than you’d think.
Outside paths get safe new doors,
Local paths stay close to floors.
New pages bloom; I decorate anew—
With tidy paws and code that’s true!

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately summarizes the main change: external links now open in new tabs after instant navigation.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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