Back button doesn't return properly

[Bruce.]

This has been happening to me for quite some time but I hadn't seen the
pattern or been able to predictably reproduce it until today.

The problem is the browser back button (left arrow) doesn't always
return to the correct page (as displayed).

1) Start on any web page. For me www.google.com works.
2) Enter this URL in the address bar:

https://www.google.com/#q=bd+xl+125gb+100gb+

3) The 4th search result should begin with "Amazon.com". Click on that.
4) After the new page fully loads hit the browser back button. The
window will go blank instead of displaying the previous web page.

If you then hit F5 (reload page) the page will display correctly.

Is anyone else seeing this too? Both IE and Chrome do the same sequence
correctly.

I've tried clearing the cache and no help. I've also started Firefox in
safe mode (add-ons disabled) and it still does the same thing.

Bruce.

[Tom Oldman]

Same thing here. BUT, when I hit the back arrow there was a very brief
flash of the correct page and then it went blank. Refresh brought it back.

--
Remove the obvious to email me

[Christoph Schmees]

who searches with super-spy google? There is ixquick, startpage,
duckduckgo.

Christoph

--
email:
nurfuerspam -> gmx
de -> net

[Ralph Fox]

A. If I turn off Google Instant, then it does not happen here.
B. If I leave Google Instant on, then it does happen.

C. Interestingly, if I set Firefox's User-Agent string to Internet Explorer
then it does not happen here even with Google Instant on.

I reckon that when you go back, Google Instant clears the search box if
it sees you are running Firefox (but not otherwise).


--
Kind regards
Ralph

[Bill Braun]

If you watch closely, the page appears to load multiple times. You can
produce the same behavior with the next two links to amazon on the same
page of search results.

There is a lot of javascript on the page, which may contribute to the
behavior (a wild guess, out of my league there).

Bill

[Bruce.]

On 12/26/2013 4:45 PM, Tom Oldman wrote:> Same thing here. BUT, when I

hit the back arrow there was a very brief
> flash of the correct page and then it went blank. Refresh brought it
back.

Yes, I'm seeing that too.

At least it's not just me. It's been irritating me for some time but
could never get it to repeat.

Bruce.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <fc6dnedh2MT8OSHP...@mozilla.org>, Christoph

None of which are a solution to the OP's problem, except in a trivial
sense; he only gave that sequence as a repeatable example he'd found of
a problem he's seen in various places.
>
>Christoph
>
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

_IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS_ BEFORE ALL TECHNICAL INTERVENTION ON THE [CASE CUT THE
ELECTRICAL FEEDING REGULAR MAINTENANCE PROVIDES THE GOOD WORKING OF A CASE (SEE
INSTRUCTIONS BOOK) [seen on bacon cabinet in Tesco (a large grocery chain)]

[Christoph Schmees]

I beg to differ. To me the error might very well be based on
google's tracking when the searcher klicks on a search result.
Give me *one non-google example* of the behaviour observed.

[»Q«]

In <news:7ye+xQ64...@soft255.demon.co.uk>,

The OP didn't mention seeing it in various places.

AFAICT, Ralph Fox nailed it -- it's a result of the Google Instant
feature, and turning that off gets rid of the weird behavior.

If there are problems with other sites, someone should post them.

[»Q«]

In <news:7ye+xQ64...@soft255.demon.co.uk>,
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6...@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote:

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <xpudnTI5lq3q1F3P...@mozilla.org>, Christoph

Over to you, Bruce, if you're still with us!

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Relax, it's OK not to micro-manage your lawn. - Monty Don, RT 2013/12/7-13

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <20131229102729.4396b873@fuchsia>, =?UTF-8?B?wrtRwqs=?=

To me, "Start on any web page. For me www.google.com works." read as
meaning google was only one example. However, he may well have not
realised it was google-specific, if it was/is.

>
>AFAICT, Ralph Fox nailed it -- it's a result of the Google Instant
>feature, and turning that off gets rid of the weird behavior.
>
>If there are problems with other sites, someone should post them.

(I think we've frightened off the OP with our deviation.)

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The summit of Everest is marine limestone.

[Desiree]

I don't have this problem. I tried your Google example and the back
button worked correctly.

My caveats are though:

1. I am running Fx 17.0.11 ESR.

2. I do not use Google's secure search (blocked in my Host's file) and
I have no Google account.

3. The Proxomitron filters Google using Sidki's 2011/12/22 filter set
and there are custom settings for Google.

[Bruce.]

On 12/29/2013 11:10 AM, Christoph Schmees wrote:
> I beg to differ. To me the error might very well be based on google's
> tracking when the searcher klicks on a search result. Give me *one
> non-google example* of the behaviour observed.
>
> Christoph

It's my recollection that it has happened on multiple sites. However,
the occurrences were rare and it's taken me months to figure out how to
do it using Google search.

If and when I get a repeatable sequence elsewhere I will post it.

In the meantime, as I said, both Chrome handle the google example
properly, so to me it doesn't really matter if whether Firefox exhibits
the same symptom elsewhere, except to the person trying to fix it.

Bruce.

[Christoph Schmees]

well, that the google browser handles the google tracking
correctly doesn't surprise me too much. And IE, they porbably
tried their tracking mechanisms against IE as well. FF ist not
worth the effort as it can be to well protected (NoScript,
AdBlock+, Ghostery and the like).

[andre.s...@gmail.com]

@ Christoph

Dear Christoph,
using software is all about trust. You don´t trust Google and Microsoft? Well then it is really a great idea, to use FF with at least three "security addons". So you don´t have to trust ONE company, but four. Sounds legit... If I want to make my one doored home more secure, it is always the best to dig in a few more wall openings to install "high security" door solutions.

[Eckard]

On 26/12/2013 22:23 Bruce. wrote:
> This has been happening to me for quite some time but I hadn't seen the
> pattern or been able to predictably reproduce it until today.
>
> The problem is the browser back button (left arrow) doesn't always
> return to the correct page (as displayed).
>

Probably it's the bug 908446
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=908446>

Try the following workaround:
Open the config editor (about:config), search for the option
"browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers" and toggle its value to "0"
(zero).

[terry.v...@gmail.com]

Ok, I think I found the fix.... Add the following to trusted sites:
http://www.google.com
https://www.google.com

[mkb1...@gmail.com]

Try dienableing ad block plus. It worked for me. M K Brookes

[kb9...@gmail.com]

This fixed my back button problem!!! Go To "Tools" "add-ons" in search type "stop google" first thing on list Google Disconnect 2.4.2 ,, that worked for me !! Hope this helps Bernie

[tparc...@gmail.com]

I got the same issue with this release. It happens when the last page is a search followed by a drill down. Firefox is going back to the last page

[tparc...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, December 26, 2013 at 3:45:35 PM UTC-6, Tom Oldman wrote:

The problem I see happens when the last page is a search page with search information added to the url at the time of the search. Then on a drill down of a search result the back page doesn't let you return to the search results page because it goes to the results page but then re-executes the drill link you used on the results page so you end up stuck back on the drill down page. You can hold down the back page button and reselect the search results page from a list to get around this problem but something is wrong here and a reinstall does not fix it. Cache clear does not fix it. History is off. Does not fix it. Just plain annoying.

[»Q«]

In
<news:mailman.104.1432743691...@lists.mozilla.org>,

tparc...@gmail.com wrote:

> > Bruce. wrote, On 12/26/2013 16:23:
> > > This has been happening to me for quite some time but I hadn't
> > > seen the pattern or been able to predictably reproduce it until
> > > today.
> > >
> > > The problem is the browser back button (left arrow) doesn't always
> > > return to the correct page (as displayed).
> > >
> > > 1) Start on any web page. For me www.google.com works. 2) Enter
> > > this URL in the address bar:
> > >
> > > https://www.google.com/#q=bd+xl+125gb+100gb+
> > >
> > > 3) The 4th search result should begin with "Amazon.com". Click on
> > > that. 4) After the new page fully loads hit the browser back
> > > button. The window will go blank instead of displaying the
> > > previous web page.
> > >
> > > If you then hit F5 (reload page) the page will display correctly.

> The problem I see happens when the last page is a search page with
> search information added to the url at the time of the search. Then
> on a drill down of a search result the back page doesn't let you
> return to the search results page because it goes to the results page
> but then re-executes the drill link you used on the results page so
> you end up stuck back on the drill down page. You can hold down the
> back page button and reselect the search results page from a list to
> get around this problem but something is wrong here and a reinstall
> does not fix it. Cache clear does not fix it. History is off. Does
> not fix it. Just plain annoying.

I can't reproduce this -- forward and back Just Work for me when going
between the Google results page and the Amazon or any other page. It
may (or may not) be a timing issue WRT onload and onunload javascript
events and the so-called fastback cache which handles moving back and
forward. There's also the issue of Google's redirections -- clicking a
search result link actually sends you to a Google interstitial page (so
that they have a record of all actions) which immediately redirects to
where you want to go -- maybe this is what you meant by the drill
link, I'm not sure.

I don't have a solution, but a workaround is to ctrl- or middle-click
in the search results page to open sites in new tabs, leaving the
search results intact for further use. Another workaround might be to
switch to using <https://www.startpage.com/>, which gives you Google
search results without some of the Google annoyances -- but I don't know
whether this issue will crop up there as well.

[Pierre D]

I have had that problem since about the middle of last year, i.e. FF showing the page briefly and then going blank. As of late (in the past 3-4 weeks) this doesn't happen but instead it goes back to the wrong page. Going back one extra time and then forward used to fix the problem when it was a blank page but now it down not. Sometimes there is nothing to go forward to.

It's always (mostly?) on Google search results, if that helps narrow down the problem. So it's some change in FF from last year AND recently, or something that Google is doing that FF doesn't handle correctly.

Pierre