That’s probably a meme at this point, another post on the front page has the exact same complaint : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26791997
Re:Natto.dev – A Canvas for JavaScript
by wccrawford on Tuesday April 13, 2021 @08:09AM
(#26791099)
Warning people that they won't be able to get back to this site is not an overreaction.
It looks like an innocent bug and to get back to HN takes me two clicks rather than one, not really something I can get too excited about, particularly when it showing something new.
This is not a bug, it's how web apps are supposed to work.
The url should be updated to reference the current app view - this way you can copy the url for that particular resource and access it again by pasting with the same url.
This is how it worked for headers when websites were just plain documents. It's a very powerful feature and is exactly what the web is about - sharing resources easily.
Browsers have different ways of dealing with this like grouping items in the back history by domain, so that it's easy to leave the site back to page previous to the app session.
Re:Natto.dev – A Canvas for JavaScript
by mcintyre1994 on Tuesday April 13, 2021 @08:24AM
(#26791235)
FWIW: In every desktop browser I've used and in Safari on iOS, long pressing the back button for a few seconds will bring up a list of recent history and allow you to get back when the button is hijacked by a page.
I think I've automatically double-clicked the back button every back-button click since the back button could be hijacked, like years ago. Same with iOS. I try to use my iPhone less, so I uninstalled all apps, and access everything through Safari. It's the absolutely worst experience and I love it. Reddit is practically unusable unless you visit the `www.` site, but by far the worst thing is visiting a site that hijacks the back button.
Right clicking the back button is faster!
Re:Natto.dev – A Canvas for JavaScript
by vanderZwan on Tuesday April 13, 2021 @08:13AM
(#26791124)
> they won't be able to get back to this site
I hate it when sites break the back button, but that's really not the same thing
I'm picturing users instantaneously teleported to some mythical labyrinth where they're forced to fight their way back to Hacker News.
Not to condone but I never rely on back button when using references in context of some longer material I am currently reading. I always right click and open in new window. So to me the problem mostly mute.
Fun fact, middle clicks and ctrl+left click will also open links in a new tab!
Aware of that. Ctrl however makes me move my other hand and I am a lazy fart. Middle click requires significant effort on my mouse.
Re:Natto.dev – A Canvas for JavaScript
by The_rationalist on Tuesday April 13, 2021 @09:29AM
(#26791860)
Not ideal but long clicking on the back button show history.
I‘m sorry my comment raised these feelings. People share their projects on HN bc they want feedback. I think it’s a rude thing to hijack the back button and a lot of people seem to share that sentiment. Rude behavior can be unintentional and even well intended, but the perception to others is just not great. I would consider this valuable feedback - it’s better to get it here and fix the bug/misbehavior than keeping it even longer.
This is an incredibly cool product that is by their own words "very alpha" and people jump to "OMG i know what hijacking is so I'll point it out" for attention. It's kind of a tired trope. This is obviously not an intentional hacking of users but rather a quite harmless bug in the implementation of an undo/permalinking feature.
Great job to the devs and I hope I can find a utility for this product in the future, it's kind of a javascriptable excel concept, really cool.