| Re: Embedding HTML Within a PHP Statement [message #175999 is a reply to message #175997] |
Mon, 14 November 2011 17:07   |
Michael Fesser
Messages: 215
Registered: September 2010
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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.oO(Tim Streater)
> Erwin Moller wrote:
>
>> And what about bookmarking?
>> And intuitive use of the back button?
>>
>> Those things often feel broken to me when using AJAX-riddled websites.
>
> Well, this is an interesting point. In the case of fairly static pages,
> bookmarking/back-button made sense. But if for example you are dealing
> with an on-line purchasing site, you "go to checkout" and then typically
> might go through a number of steps to complete the purchase. Should each
> of these be a separate page, so the page is entirely refreshed in order
> to go to the next one?
Yes.
> That looks slow/clumsy. What about if you want to
> go back?
That's the main reason for separate pages/steps - you can easily go back
(and forth) the usual way.
> Often the page writers provide their own Back button in these
> cases.
Which are ugly, unreliable and not userfriendly. The browser's own back
button is the second-most used thing on a website (after the normal
links). Users know how to use it. It's always a bad idea to break it.
But it's not only the normal user which might have a problem with a
'back'-button replacement - more advanced users often use a browser with
more advanced features, e.g. special hotkeys, mouse gestures etc. Some
of these might not work anymore as expected if the typical behaviour of
a website is broken.
For example on an AJAX-"powered" site I usually have to use the mouse
and the site-internal navigation buttons (if they work and if I can
easily find them) to go where I want, while on a "normal" site I can
also use other and easier ways (built into the browser), for example
going back one page just by pressing the two buttons of my laptop's
touchpad in right-left-order (or left-right to move forward) without
having to position the cursor over some button on the page. Much easier.
> For such a set of pages, one could ask:
>
> 1) What does "Back" mean? (i.e., using the browser's Back button)
Back one page. There are situations where it makes sense to just reload
a part of a page, but if the whole context changes, it's much better to
keep it seperated and use different pages/URLs.
> 2) Why should anyone bookmark a page in the middle of the set?
> 3) Why should a search engine note a page from the middle of the set?
A shop is a bad example here, but there are also many sites out there
which consist of just one page/script and load all their content via
AJAX. Many of them have problems similar to old frame-based sites.
> If I were implementing such a set, I would bookmarking/back-button:
>
> 1) Make it in effect a single page
You can easily control it by setting different URL parameters. Still a
single script, but different URLs, so you can easily go back and forth
by using the browser nav.
> 2) Gather the sets of data (delivery address, credit-card data, etc) as
> different phases but allow the user to go back and forth to review each
> and/or correct any.
Yes. Easily done with separate URLs.
> Use my own back/forward buttons for this and ensure
> that no data is lost as user goes back and forth.
No. Replacements for basic browser functions are always less reliable
and often enough completely unnecessary.
> 3) Offer shortcuts to the user such as address lookup based on postcode
> and house name/number
Still possible with single pages. That's one thing where AJAX can make
sense and really improve the usability. Completely relying on AJAX does
not.
> 4) Browser-back button to take you to page previous to checkout - with
> the option to go forward still with no data lost.
The browser's back button should take you back to the previous page, not
make a whole jump across several steps. When I'm on the last step of the
checkout process, e.g. confirmation, pressing 'back' should take me to
the step before, usually the payment method. Pressing 'back' again takes
me back to the address or something like that. Then going forth from the
address page directly to the confirmation page wouldn't be a problem if
the data of each page is sent to the server and kept in a session. Easy
to implement and as reliable as possible.
> Anyway - that's nearly enough. I just feel that to offer a better
> service and make better use of the technology one ends up questioning
> bookmarking/back-button a little.
Not everything that's possible really does improve the service. AJAX has
its uses, like any other technology, but it can also create new problems
and affect a site's usability and accessibility if not used properly.
Micha
--
http://mfesser.de/blickwinkel
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