links don’t work in the slider anymore + more

The latest version gave me 2 new problems:

1. i had a static slider image and a button on it wrapped in a ‘a href’ tag, with the latest update that link doesn’t work anymore, adding it around a div tag is unconventional but it works, well worked, so i added it normally, still doesn’t work, so i had to use the Link field but it’s an external link and there is no way to make it open in a new window, so now i have to install yet another plugin and redo the banner in that instead, making the built in slider feature useless to anyone with external links.

2. the pop-up hover notifications are now displayed in a medium gray background and a very similar but slightly lighter gray text, it’s very hard to read.