Clicking "go back" button on browser deletes data

[sylvia@…]

Hi. I registered as an individual and had to go back to correct an error on I discovered on the second/confirmation page (after clicking continue).

When I clicked the go back button on my Firefox browser, I was returned to the first page but all my data was gone. I had to retype each field (although the form fill from my first attempt appeared, thereby saving some time). Still, a drag...can that be fixed?

Thanks!
Sylvia

[alfredo@…]

Hi Sylvia,

I can see the issue but I'm not sure it's fixable per se because the back button works differently on different browsers and different machines (depending on whether it's caching the content of a form) so a well-done form will usually save first page data in a temp file but that doesn't always appear on a screen after somebody hits back button. In reality, that back button impulse is natural but showing data after you hit back button is really a bug and a potential security risk in many cases.

If we can't fix this I would suggest us putting in some instruction to *not* hit back button on browser. But I'll leave this issue to the team that's been doing the form.

Thanks for pointing this out. It's the kind of stuff that always pops up early in the life of an on-line form so it's important that we catch and address it now.

Alfredo

[http://josephlacey.myopenid.com/]

I have a question about this. Sylvia, do you mean the browser back button or the "Go Back" button at the bottom of the form?

If the former, Alfredo is correct, this will reset the form and delete the information you've entered. You'd have to re-eneter it, and there isn't really a fix for this. Possible solutions to this could be to print the "Go Back" and "Continue" buttons also at the top of the form with a note, as Alfredo suggests, to not use the browser back button.

If you used the latter, the CiviCRM printed "Go Back" button, this is a bug and needs to be looked into.

[http://michiganwro.blogspot.com/]

Thanks for the notes, Alfredo and Joseph. I (and I think many other people) know it's not wise to hit the browser back button for the reasons you list. However, when I saw the section of the verification page that indicated typos in helping hand contribution, I realized I needed to make a correction.

The instructions said "go back" to make corrections and I didn't see a "go back" button at the top of the screen. No, I didn't think to scroll to the bottom of the long page to look for a "go back" button.

This is my user experience but I don't think it's unique and I can see others possibly doing the same thing to make a fix. I agree adding the "go back" and "continue" buttons at the top of the screen could be a good solution, along with a note to say don't click the browser "go back" button.

Thanks,
Sylvia

[https://id.mayfirst.org/malloryk]

It would make sense to have "go back" buttons at the bottom and top of each page.

[https://id.mayfirst.org/malloryk]

Can we make the following changes?

"Go Back" button at the top of the page.

Text that says: "Please use this Go Back button to return to the previous page rather than "Back" in your browser."

[http://josephlacey.myopenid.com/]

These buttons were added some time ago. See attachment. Sorry I didn't update the ticket then, but this should be fine now. I'm closing this one.