Back Button Doesn't Work on Some Websites

How come my Back Button Doesn't Work on Some Websites? It just keeps redisplaying the same page over and over. Example:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/front

Dual 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5, Mac OS X (10.4.2), Safari Version 2.0.1 (412.5)

Posted on Mar 24, 2006 11:38 AM

Reply
7 replies

Mar 24, 2006 12:04 PM in response to Danny Smythe

Back button behaviour can be pretty wierd. I usually use the keyboard combination, but for some reason it doesn't work on PDF's and I have to end up using the graphical back button.

There are some websites out there that for some reason or another break the Back button's behaviour. Sometimes I have to hold down the mouse button to get the back button menu in order to work around that problem.

In another case there was this page in Amazon that wouldn't allow me to go back to. Everytime I went to that page the browser to automatically kick me to the next page. I had to disable javascript to work around that problem.

Jun 8, 2006 10:12 PM in response to Danny Smythe

Some developers have their web sites disable the back button to try to lock you into their site. However, alternate means of going back still work, such as using the drop-down list from thr back button, pressing command-left arrow, or using the history list. Other glitches can also happen - we have had some people with back/forward button problems that could not be duplicated (at least by me), so it is not always the web site's fault.

Jun 9, 2006 12:33 AM in response to Tom Graves

Thanks for your info in advance. Some interesting questions come.

If back button is disabled intentionally for some wesbites, should browser totally disable the back function?
Or the back button would trigger a page refresh rather getting the page content from cache for this case.
I try IE browser and it works (coz a page refresh); I am not sure if other browser, Firefox, behave the same way.

Jun 9, 2006 4:00 AM in response to Bull chan

If the back button works using one browser, then the page is probably not coded to disable it. I have never seen a site that disabled any other movement process except the back button, which can be effective enough for users not familiar with alternate means of moving around using their browser.

Even Safari's Private Browsing, which does not add anything to history, still has a weak link in that there is a short history available via the drop-down list from the back and forward buttons (although in this case, I believe even these lists could be eliminated if Safari's developers wanted to).

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Back Button Doesn't Work on Some Websites

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.