[thelist] Do I need a back link?

Joshua Olson joshua at waetech.com
Wed Nov 20 07:30:01 CST 2002


----- Original Message -----
From: "aardvark" <roselli at earthlink.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 6:34 PM


> this means that if you are relying on JS and reading from the
> history object, how do you handle for non-JS users?  does the link
> not function at all, or not get drawn?

I agree 100%, back links can be very cumbersome to manage, at best.  A
possible solution that I've found is to use the history object AND only
render the back button (using document.write) if the history object is
available in the users browser.

One huge downside to this is if the referring page is a result of a form
post.  Depending on cache settings, the page may come up as expired for the
user.

> if it's not JS, then how do you determine the previous page without
> a referrer or a variable passed to the current page? what if the user
> came from a search engine to that page?

That is a wonderful point.  Unfortunately, my experience with clients that
actually interact with the end users in a customer support role is that they
generally do not seem to trust the average user's web-savvy quotient.  They
seem to honestly believe that users do not know how to use neither the back
button nor the refresh button.  Most of these clients are speaking from
endless hours of telephone time trying to help users work through the site.
What they don't realize, usually, is that the calls they do receive
represent a tiny fraction of the total users that visit the site.

(Is this an example of a rotten apple spoiling the batch?  I think so.)

The closest I've come to a reasonable compromise is a site-depth breadcrumb.
Which not representing a true "back" button experience, it represents a way
to get to the higher logical level of the site, if such a level exists.  In
some sites, granted, not even a reasonable site-depth breadcrumb can be used
given the nature and construct of the site.

-joshua




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