257498 - Back Button doesnt work as it should be

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: DOM: Navigation, defect)

Description

[u49640]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040803 Firefox/0.9.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040803 Firefox/0.9.3

Note: this is not a dupe of Bug 166807

As seen in Bug 166807 (and tons of dupes) sometimes the Back Button just doesnt
do as its supposed to work. Bug 166807 Suggests that it is a Bug on Web Pages,
but the Back Button is not a feature of a webpage, but its an essential Feature
of the Browser. No website - not even the worst coded page - should be able to
break the back button. 

IMO this isnt an evang. Bug, but an actual Bug in Mozilla that needs to be
fixed. There is even the risk of a dataloss if you have entered some text into a
form, clicked back and forward and you cant go back to page you actually visited

What happens: go to derstandard.at browse arround and go back. sometimes you
arent one page back but several (usually you get just to the page that you
visited just before derstandard.at

Reproducible: Sometimes
Steps to Reproduce:
1. visit some page
2. goto derstandard.at and browse around
3. Click back

Actual Results:  
sometimes you are on the page you visited before going to derstandard.at and not
tha actual last page

Expected Results:  
the back button should work and sends you back one page

Comment 1

[Bill Mason]

If this is not a dup (and I don't see a reason here why it is not), it is
certainly not a Firefox specific bug.

->Browser

Comment 2

[OstGote!]

WFM with Mozilla build 2004082909 on WinNT4.

Comment 3

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

-> session history, but why file a bug that's the same as an already filed
bug... instead, that bug should maybe be moved to browser instead of tech evang.

Comment 4

[[e-mail]]

Actually there are both symptoms (the one described here and the one described
in bug 166807)  still ocurring with FF 0.9.3/Linux: 
1) the back button is enabled, but brings you back to the site you were viewing
*before* the navigation within derstandard.at
2) the back button is incorrectly greyed out

The problem is the both bugs only happen occasionally and seemingly randomly. I
just tried it once again and got symptom 2) once, but could not reproduce it again.

I would not know how the problem with the disabled back-button *could* possibly
be an tech evangilization bug? Clearly if you go from a page a to a page b there
must be a way to go back? 

Comment 5

[u49640]

(In reply to comment #1)
> If this is not a dup (and I don't see a reason here why it is not), it is
> certainly not a Firefox specific bug.

The reason was this: i've tried it in Bug 166807, but they told me that specific
bug was just an evang. Bug and not a technical one and that if i want Mozilla to
fix it i should file a seperate bug.

And since no bad html/js/whatever should be able to break a basic Feature like
the history, its IMHO a mozilla bug that should be fixed by mozilla

(In reply to comment #2)
> WFM with Mozilla build 2004082909 on WinNT4.
unfortunatly it happens only sometimes... on some builds it was much better (i
even thought that mozilla has fixed it), but since several months its back again


(In reply to comment #3)
> -> session history, but why file a bug that's the same as an already filed
> bug... instead, that bug should maybe be moved to browser instead of tech evang.

i first thought about changing the other bug, but i wasnt sure if i'm allowed to
do this. 

Comment 6

[Stefan Mayrhofer]

it seems a few people think about this as an evangelism bug the others don't. to
satisfy both this is the *non-evangelism* report.

Comment 7

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

> And since no bad html/js/whatever should be able to break a basic Feature like
> the history

See location.replace() (especially), no-store directives, and so forth.  All
ways for sites to "break" history.

Please don't cc me on bugs that don't have repeatable steps to reproduce.... I
just don't have the cycles to sort such things out.  If someone creates a
minimal web page that shows the bug, I'll be able to take a look.

Comment 8

[Bart Cassady]

Attachment: HTML frameset minimal test case

Here is a minimal test case of the back button not working properly.  It
involves the combination of nested framesets and javascript's "location.href"
mechanism.

After opening "main.html", click on "Middle (Javascript)", then "Content". 
Right click in the "Content" frame and select "Back".  It doesn't go back.

The nested framesets are as follows:

"main.html" constructs "first_frame" with "top.html" and "second_frame" with
"middle_frameset.html".

"middle_frameset.html" (in "second_frame") constructs "third_frame" with
"middle.html" and "fourth_frame" with "bottom.html".

To retry the sequence to reproduce the bug, you must clear the cache and do a
reload.

Hope this is what people were looking for.

Comment 9

[Ivan Ičin]

This seems to me like the same bug, although it might be another bug.

I think that it is better reproducable (maybe always) this way:

1. set the error messages to friendly format (not the pop-up dialogue that
pop-ups by default when error appears)
2. enter some text in some form (e.g on spreadfirefox.com)
3. switch to off-line mode
4. submit text

You should get the message that you cannot open page offline, without
possibility to go back. So, you must click try again and then you can click back.

The same thing happens if you change steps 2 and 3 with braking connection when
page is started to load (but not to render).

Comment 10

[u49640]

an other example where the back button doesnt work

http://www.steampowered.com/
(be sure that you dont have steam installed)
and click on the "CLICK HERE to pre-load now" (pints to steam://preload/220 ) link

i get the XUL Error page but i cant go back to the previous page

Comment 11

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

(In reply to comment #10)
> i get the XUL Error page but i cant go back to the previous page

XUL error pages are a different bug; please file a new one or find an existing one.

Comment 12

[Gavin Baker]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

I have the same problem. Some other sites I encountered with this effect -- not
persistent, but occasional:

http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/genevadeclaration.html
Then select "List of initial signatures." Sometimes I am allowed to return to
the previous site; other times, the Back button is greyed out, and the Back
mouse button doesn't function.

Ditto with http://www.createchange.org/resources/brochure.html
Selected the "Open Access" brochure PDF, Back button unavailable.

Comment 13

[Anita Warren]

I found this happens a lot on search pages with Firefox 3 beta 1:
Simple to reproduce, happens every time: go to www.yahoo.com
type TEST then back button disappears. Also happens on www.myspace.com when viewing comments etc. 

Comment 14

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

No activity for 12 years, let's close it.