[Rails-spinoffs] Ajax Bookmarks & Browser Navigation (Back ButtonIssue)

[Ryan Gahl]

This really depends on the context of your usage of Ajax. Where each page is
potentially it's own mini application (RIA), I personally would not expect
the back button to act as an undo for the operations done within that
application (for that it would probably be best to create your own
"undo/redo" control). I always expect the back button to go to the previous
page in my browser's history, which means the last mini application (page
within your site) I was on, or the last site I came from. For instance,
compare maps.google.com with maps.yahoo.com (the NEW yahoo maps, not the
default old one you get). Google gets it right, I can move the map around
all I want and when I hit the back button I go back to the page I was on
last. Yahoo, however, is very frustrating because every time you move the
map or change the zoom level it inserts an entry into the history. So now if
I want to navigate back to where I came from I must hit back several
(potentially many many) times. That is not what the back button is there
for.

IMHO, if you want undo/redo functionality in your RIA, make it yourself and
separate it from the browser's conventional history functionality. This is
where all those frameworks should have spent their time: making undo/redo
libraries rather than breaking the back button all over the place.

On 7/7/06, devel - Fashion Content <devel at fashioncontent.com> wrote:
>
> Imo it's just one of the things you have to design for when you plan your
> web app.
>
> Let's say you have a page that shows a sorted table of information. Using
> Ajax you allow the user to change the sort order, and filter the view to
> only a certain match.
>
> Back button: Personally I wouldn't expect anyone to want to use the back
> button to change back the filter/sort order, but I believe there is a
> listener for handling back button interaction.
>
> Linking/Favourites: You could show the page with a unique URL, and have
> the
> script tell the server whenever the sort/filter is changed. That way the
> user will return to the same preferences in the future. Alternately you
> could have a permalink kept up to date, and have the user use that rather
> than the current page.
>
> I don't really see either as great challenges. Just something to
> implement.
>
> Henrik
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sergio Marques" <sergio.marques at mentesvirtuais.com>
> To: <rails-spinoffs at lists.rubyonrails.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 12:39 PM
> Subject: [Rails-spinoffs] Ajax Bookmarks & Browser Navigation (Back
> ButtonIssue)
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I've been reading a lot of articles about the back button and bookmark
> issue for Ajax Web Applications, but i would like to know some more
> opinions about that question. I know that exists some libraries that try
> to solve this problem, but i'm not convinced.
>
> - will the future web browsers have support for that kind of navigation
> (ajax calls)?
>
> - is it correct to fix the back button when trying to reload the whole
> page, or the best solution is to make ajax calls only for elements in
> the page and not for the page itself?
>
> - is there any solutions viable for you right now to fix the back button
> (if so what libraries)?
>
> Thanks in advance for the help,
>
> Sérgio
>
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