[FX.php List] GET vs. POST in a web app

[Dale Bengston]

Read all the way to the end this time. ;-)

I would work on navigation that reduces or eliminates the use of the  
browser back button. I have one client with two of my sites and  
https, and pressing the back button (IE Windows) gives the POST  
warning followed by a blank page. Yuck! I spent a lot of time working  
on the interface to eliminate that habit. Also, I had some "cancel"  
buttons that used history.go(-1), which is pretty much the same thing.

If you have alternatives in your interface, then you have ammunition  
to say, "Don't use the back button. Use the site navigation."

Dale

On May 4, 2007, at 11:10 AM, Bob Patin wrote:

> I'm finishing up a large project for a client whose users will be a  
> group of hospitals and physicians. The whole project is finished-- 
> or should I say, it WAS finished--until the end client (a hospital  
> person) noticed that using the BACK button caused the POST warning  
> to come up, since so many pages were displaying the results of  
> various POSTs.
>
> So my client asked me if I could go through the site and replace  
> all the POSTs with GETs. I cautioned him, pointing out the fact  
> that everything would be in the clear, including passwords, but he  
> asked me to go forward with the change anyway.
>
> So I did so... and immediately saw that logins didn't work because  
> the @ sign in emails would break the URL in a GET. I then saw that  
> editing a user's profile, which contained email addresses, as well  
> as possible URLs, would also not work using GETs.
>
> So to have an answer ready for them, here's my question: is there a  
> way, using a GET command, to make it work with @ signs and various  
> other special symbols that URLs use? I don't want to go down this  
> road, but I'm anticipating their insistence on trying to make this  
> work.
>
> Before you tell me, I know and agree that using GETs like this is  
> an awful idea, but the client (the end-user) is concerned about how  
> the BACK button causes problems. How do you guys get around this,  
> or do you?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bob Patin
> Longterm Solutions
> bob at longtermsolutions.com
> 615-333-6858
> http://www.longtermsolutions.com
>
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