'Back Button (Arrow)' Puzzle ?

[Mel Smith]

Dave said:

Terrible frame designs notwithstanding, you do realise that your back
button also acts as a dropdown allowing you to go back several pages in
one go?

No need to close the browser/window !

(At least it does by default in IE and Firefox, and can be made to do so
in Opera. No idea about Safari/Chrome).

Hi Dave:

No, I did *not* know about the alt+left key stroke to take me back a
screen-at-a-time.

But its good to know. Thank you

Unfortunately, after getting to the stage where I'm bounnced out of the
frame, even alt+left doesn't work in getting me back -- bit its strange that
Chrome takes me back to the very first page of my site skipping all the
intervening pages. The other browsers don't go anywhere.


-Mel

 

[Dave]

Dave said:


Hi Dave:

No, I did *not* know about the alt+left key stroke to take me back a
screen-at-a-time.

But its good to know. Thank you

Unfortunately, after getting to the stage where I'm bounnced out of the
frame, even alt+left doesn't work in getting me back -- bit its strange that
Chrome takes me back to the very first page of my site skipping all the
intervening pages. The other browsers don't go anywhere.

I wasn't talking about alt-left which still only takes you back one page
at a time. I was talking about using the mouse to activate the drop-down
next to the back button, at which point you can choose to jump back
several pages in a single step, which *does* get around the problem that
occurs when a site destroys the standard back button behaviour by
redirecting a page behind the scenes.

 

[Mel Smith]

Dave said:

I wasn't talking about alt-left which still only takes you back one page
at a time. I was talking about using the mouse to activate the drop-down
next to the back button, at which point you can choose to jump back
several pages in a single step, which *does* get around the problem that
occurs when a site destroys the standard back button behaviour by
redirecting a page behind the scenes.

Dave:

I never even noticed that 'drop-down' next to the back button (
Thank you for telling me about it !

Well, I tried it, and unfortunately, it only shows the very first page
of my site *if* I progress to see the detail page I was complainig about .
The only way back *then* is to the very first page of my site. (ala
Chrome).

But thanks for the tip anyway -- I wonder if I should be arrested for
trying to design web pages

In a further note, on this Monday nite at 10:30pm , I'm going to try to
eliminate the problem by turning my back on it and producing a pointer to a
different site containing the same info.

-Mel

 

[Mel Smith]

Hi folks:

I changed my approach and now I can get those 'Exclusive' Listings to
display differently (but correctly) !! I use a *different* external site
with essentially the same info, and I now can use the back button
successfully.

To Dave:

Well, I tried it, and unfortunately, it only shows the very first page
of my site *if* I progress to see the detail page I was complainig about .

No, I was wrong again (at least for IE7): Altho it *shows* in the
dropdown that I can go back to the very 1st page of the drilling down
process, I really cannot go anywhere ?

The only way back *then* is to the very first page of my site. (ala
Chrome).

Thanks to everyone for the guidance and pointers provided here -- Jeez, I'm
ignorant of so many things in 'browser-world' !

-Mel Smith

 

[rf]

Dave said:


Dave:

I never even noticed that 'drop-down' next to the back button ( Thank
you for telling me about it !

Well, I tried it, and unfortunately, it only shows the very first page
of my site *if* I progress to see the detail page I was complainig about .
The only way back *then* is to the very first page of my site. (ala
Chrome).

Ah, the beauty of frames

 

[David Segall]

Beauregard said:


Most of the external sites work properly -- so Frame use should not be
the problem.
Also, I use zoneedit.com for translating my site from
www.mesaeastpark.com to ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296.

My pages have *no frames* (I don't even know how to *make* a frame --
yet ) )

I think that you have told ZoneEdit to "cloak" your site so that
visitors will see "www.mesaeastpark.com" as the URL in the browser
header instead of "ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296/some_page.html". ZoneEdit
does this by introducing an invisible frame.

It's not relevant to your question but you should also be aware that
visitors who attempt to bookmark some_page will actually be book
marking the first page.

 

[123Jim]

I think that you have told ZoneEdit to "cloak" your site so that
visitors will see "www.mesaeastpark.com" as the URL in the browser
header instead of "ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296/some_page.html". ZoneEdit
does this by introducing an invisible frame.

It's not relevant to your question but you should also be aware that
visitors who attempt to bookmark some_page will actually be book
marking the first page.

Very user ~un~friendly .... So you're looking through the properties, you
see one you like, you bookmark it to show your spouse later, but when you
click the bookmark in your 'favourites' later, you have to start on 'page
zero'.

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

I changed my approach and now I can get those 'Exclusive' Listings to
display differently (but correctly) !! I use a *different* external
site with essentially the same info, and I now can use the back
button successfully.

Morning, Mel ... here's something else for you to chew on. <g>

The page that lists the three columns of houses for sale, in the yellow
boxes and where the X007241 is down in the left column, is in a
div#listings, and only a couple hundred pixels high. There is a scroll
bar over at the right. Some visitors may not notice that scroll bar and
think there is only one house (in each column) for sale.

My recommendation would be to eliminate the constrained height of
#listings and just let the items scroll naturally, using the whole
browser viewport.

Frames ... absolute positioning ... small text size ...

 

[Jonathan N. Little]

Also, I use zoneedit.com for translating my site from
www.mesaeastpark.com to ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296.

My pages have*no frames* (I don't even know how to*make* a frame --
yet ) )

Where you realize it or not you are using frames for some really lame
url redirection, a quick peek at the source reveals the ugly truth.

<HTML><HEAD>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Senior's Mobile Home Park in Arizona">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="">
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET border=0 rows="100%,*" frameborder="no" marginleft=0
margintop=0 marginright=0 marginbottom=0>
<frame src="http://ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296" scrolling=auto
frameborder="no" border=0 noresize>
<frame topmargin="0" marginwidth=0 scrolling=no marginheight=0
frameborder="no" border=0 noresize>
</FRAMESET>
<NOFRAMES><BODY><P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Senior's Mobile Home Park in Arizona</BLOCKQUOTE><P>
<A HREF="http://ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296">Click here to go to
www.mesaeastpark.com</A></BODY></NOFRAMES>
</HTML>

 

[Mel Smith]

Beau said:

The page that lists the three columns of houses for sale, in the yellow
boxes and where the X007241 is down in the left column, is in a
div#listings, and only a couple hundred pixels high. There is a scroll
bar over at the right. Some visitors may not notice that scroll bar and
think there is only one house (in each column) for sale.

My recommendation would be to eliminate the constrained height of
#listings and just let the items scroll naturally, using the whole
browser viewport.

Frames ... absolute positioning ... small text size ...

Thanks Beau -- I'll chew on your suggestion over the next several days.


-Mel

 

[Peter]

Dave said:


Dave:

I never even noticed that 'drop-down' next to the back button (
Thank you for telling me about it !

Well, I tried it, and unfortunately, it only shows the very first page
of my site *if* I progress to see the detail page I was complainig about .
The only way back *then* is to the very first page of my site. (ala
Chrome).

Then you're still not understanding what your looking at. Even Chrome
allows me to step back 1, 2, 3 or more previous pages that I choose. It
may well say mesaeastpark.com on each of the choices, but believe me,
they are not the first page of your site.

 

[Mel Smith]

Peter said:

Then you're still not understanding what your looking at. Even Chrome
allows me to step back 1, 2, 3 or more previous pages that I choose. It
may well say mesaeastpark.com on each of the choices, but believe me,
they are not the first page of your site.

Peter:

Since I've now changed the off-site url's to those I *can* back-button
(I did this last nite at 10:30 MDT) , it would be quite difficult to now
revert to the 'faulty' ones for testing.

The next time I get a 'faulty' Exclusive, I'll give it another try.

Thanks for the comments

-Mel Smith

 

[David Segall]

Very user ~un~friendly .... So you're looking through the properties, you
see one you like, you bookmark it to show your spouse later, but when you
click the bookmark in your 'favourites' later, you have to start on 'page
zero'.

Exactly. You have to decide between asking ZoneEdit merely to redirect
a site to a different URL or to ask it to pretend that the redirected
site has the same URL as the requested site. If you choose the latter
then every page of the redirected site has an identical URL which is
the one you asked Zoneedit to redirect.

 

[Mel Smith]

David said:

Exactly. You have to decide between asking ZoneEdit merely to redirect
a site to a different URL or to ask it to pretend that the redirected
site has the same URL as the requested site. If you choose the latter
then every page of the redirected site has an identical URL which is
the one you asked Zoneedit to redirect.

David:

Instead of asking viewers to enter www.mesaeastpark.com, you suggest
that I instruct them to enter ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296 ??

I get enough visitors. With your method I'd get none !

-Mel Smith

 

[David Segall]

David said:


David:

Instead of asking viewers to enter www.mesaeastpark.com, you suggest
that I instruct them to enter ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296 ??

I get enough visitors. With your method I'd get none !

I have not been clear. You should continue to ask ZoneEdit to redirect
<www.mesaeastpark.com> to <ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296>. If you untick
the box marked "Cloak" then the URL displayed in the browser and the
URL that a visitor bookmarks will be the actual URL. If you tick the
box marked "Cloak" then every page of your web site will be displayed
in a frame created by ZoneEdit and will have <www.mesaeastpark.com> as
its URL. The only reason for ticking the box marked "Cloak" is that
you don't want to reveal the actual URL.

Given your number of visitors I don't think that revealing the real
server and port number will deter anyone and I suggest you simply
untick "Cloak".

 

[Mel Smith]

David said:

I have not been clear. You should continue to ask ZoneEdit to redirect
<www.mesaeastpark.com> to <ww2.mesaeastpark.com:4296>. If you untick
the box marked "Cloak" then the URL displayed in the browser and the
URL that a visitor bookmarks will be the actual URL. If you tick the
box marked "Cloak" then every page of your web site will be displayed
in a frame created by ZoneEdit and will have <www.mesaeastpark.com> as
its URL. The only reason for ticking the box marked "Cloak" is that
you don't want to reveal the actual URL.

Given your number of visitors I don't think that revealing the real
server and port number will deter anyone and I suggest you simply
untick "Cloak".

David:

That's a good idea. I'll try doing that in the next little while.

(btw, is there a chance that my audience (older people like myself)
would be confused by what they see changing ?? My usual viewers probably
don't bookmark anyway ??? )

Thanks for the suggestion !

-Mel

 

[Mel Smith]

I said:

David:

That's a good idea. I'll try doing that in the next little while.

(btw, is there a chance that my audience (older people like myself)
would be confused by what they see changing ?? My usual viewers probably
don't bookmark anyway ??? )

Thanks for the suggestion !

-Mel

David:

I 'uncloaked' a few minutes ago. It might take a while to go into
effect. We'll see what happens.

Thank you for the suggestion.

-Mel

 

[Jonathan N. Little]

I 'uncloaked' a few minutes ago. It might take a while to go into
effect. We'll see what happens.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Do you host this site on your own server? If so, just change the server
name to www.mesaeastpark.com. If not, it is Apache, just rewrite the URL
in an .htaccess file

 

[Mel Smith]

Jonathan said:

Do you host this site on your own server?

Yes, I use Apache 2.2.10 on an older Dell Desktop beside me in my home
/office (former spare bedroom )

If so, just change the server

name to www.mesaeastpark.com. If not, it is Apache, just rewrite the URL
in an .htaccess file

I'll look at that later to day to see what transpires (ZoneEdit says it
takes 'a while' for changes to my site to ber implemented/ propagated).

Thanks for the suggestion:

-Mel Smith

 

[David Segall]

I said:

I don't think anybody takes any notice of the URL displayed by their
browser.

My usual viewers probably

David:

I 'uncloaked' a few minutes ago. It might take a while to go into
effect. We'll see what happens.

I have just visited and your site is now uncloaked.