Browser History (2013)
madhatted.com
Browser History (2013)
1–10 of 52 posts
Re: Browser History (2013)
#2On the desktop, I like having the option to see what a page just looked like, without reloading any data.
If I hit the back button, it's usually because something on the previous page caught my attention and I want to find it again. If I want to reload a page, I'll refresh or click on the site logo (in the case of getting to the root of the site).
Re: Browser History (2013)
#3I don't get what he doesn't understand: when the user goes back, the browser is supposed to show the document he saw when he left, as it was when he left it (so long as that view hasn't expired out of the browser's cache completely). This is intuitively what a user expects, right?
> Note: if history list mechanisms unnecessarily prevent users from viewing stale resources, this will tend to force service authors to avoid using HTTP expiration controls and cache controls when they would otherwise like to. Service authors may consider it portant that users not be presented with error messages or warning messages when they use navigation controls (such as BACK) to view previously fetched resources. Even though sometimes such resources ought not to cached, or ought to expire quickly, user interface considerations may force service authors to resort to other means of preventing caching (e.g. “once-only” URLs) in order not to suffer the effects of improperly functioning history mechanisms.
I don't get what he fails to understand: if the back function obeyed expiration headers, then going back could potentially reload the page, potentially causing a re-GET or even a re-POST.
Re: Browser History (2013)
#4On the desktop, I like having the option to see what a page just looked like, without reloading any data. If I hit the back button, it's usually because something on the previous page caught my attention and I want to find it again. If I want to reload a page, I'll refresh or click on the site logo (in the case of getting to the root of the site).
I hate when I go back and things change. I went back for a reason!
But I'm also of the school that wants View Source to view the source that was just downloaded, not re-download a new copy of the source.
Re: Browser History (2013)
#5You can use the pageshow event to detect when the browser navigates back in history to a page in the back/forward cache: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Events/pageshow
More generally, you shouldn't make a "single-page app" unless you really need to. The web is designed for navigating between multiple documents. Browser features like history and bookmarks will work better if you stick to the standard behavior.
Re: Browser History (2013)
#6I don't get what he doesn't understand: when the user goes back, the browser is supposed to show the document he saw when he left, as it was when he left it (so long as that view hasn't expired out of the browser's cache completely). This is intuitively what a user expects, right? > Note: if history list mechanisms unnecessarily prevent users from viewing stale resources, this will tend to force service authors to av…
> I don't get what he fails to understand: if the back function obeyed expiration headers, then going back could potentially reload the page, potentially causing a re-GET or even a re-POST.
There's already behaviour in place in most (all?) browsers to cover this case, at least for POST. When you go back to a page with had form data attached to the request, they'll ask you whether to re-submit the form.
This doesn't happen for GET, but then you probably shouldn't be using GET for data anyway.
Re: Browser History (2013)
#7The way I've always wished the back button worked is as though I had just opened a new tab (instead of clicking a link/submitting a form), and now I've just closed that tab and once again see the original tab I'd left.
I assume this is actually a big reason people use (so many) tabs... the back button doesn't work right!
Sigh!
Re: Browser History (2013)
#8This article no longer reflects the behavior of Safari at least as of version 10 (the version that ships with macOS Sierra). In my tests, the second version of the page that attempts to bust the bfcache behaves identically to the first version, i.e. the bfcache is not in fact busted.
Re: Browser History (2013)
#9I don't get what he doesn't understand: when the user goes back, the browser is supposed to show the document he saw when he left, as it was when he left it (so long as that view hasn't expired out of the browser's cache completely). This is intuitively what a user expects, right? > Note: if history list mechanisms unnecessarily prevent users from viewing stale resources, this will tend to force service authors to av…
> I don't get what he fails to understand: if the back function obeyed expiration headers, then going back could potentially reload the page, potentially causing a re-GET or even a re-POST. There's already behaviour in place in most (all?) browsers to cover this case, at least for POST. When you go back to a page with had form data attached to the request, they'll ask you whether to re-submit the form. This doesn't h…
Honestly, they shouldn't re-prompt IMHO — they should only do that on a reload — rather, they should just display the page as it was, which is what I expect when I hit back.
Re: Browser History (2013)
#10On the desktop, I like having the option to see what a page just looked like, without reloading any data. If I hit the back button, it's usually because something on the previous page caught my attention and I want to find it again. If I want to reload a page, I'll refresh or click on the site logo (in the case of getting to the root of the site).
I hate when I go back and things change. I went back for a reason! But I'm also of the school that wants View Source to view the source that was just downloaded, not re-download a new copy of the source.
I've never understood why View Source would do anything but show me the source of the page I'm looking at - not the source of the page as it is "now," which could be seconds, minutes or hours later. If I'm looking at a page, the browser has or could have a copy of the original stream sent from the server, why not just display that?