Questions tagged [back-button]

The back button is a ubiquitous control in browsers (and occasionally operating systems) for navigation back through previously visited pages. Typically when clicked it takes the user to the previous document in the browser's history.

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88 votes
13 answers
44k views

Should a web-based UI rely on the browser back button?

The back button is a great "get out of a flow's dead end" option that browsers provide. Should a UI rely on the back button as the only method to allow a user to get to the previous page or should the ...
Benjamin S's user avatar
  • 2,610
47 votes
3 answers
19k views

Do users understand the browser back button?

You hear a lot about not breaking the back button on websites, but can you assume that most users know and use the back button? Is it redundant to add a JavaScript or HTML back button/link on a page? ...
Ivan Maeder's user avatar
36 votes
4 answers
9k views

Should I put a back button on my form wizard?

Currently I'm designing a form wizard which will be use in the website. My reason for not putting the button on the form is because I want the user to never press back and so must finish the form. My ...
Rob H. Yamin's user avatar
  • 1,779
18 votes
3 answers
4k views

Should a form's back button save the data entered before navigating backwards

I have a five page form: 3 data entry pages, a confirmation, and an submission success page. I am to insert a back button on the middle 3 pages, no problem. However, there is no specified behavior ...
nobrandheroes's user avatar
17 votes
5 answers
7k views

Does "Don't Break The Back Button" Apply To Web Applications?

I've read the advice, "don't break the back button" from multiple sources. For content-based browsing I agree with this 100%. Does the same advice apply to web applications? I feel that it is still ...
Amish Programmer's user avatar
15 votes
7 answers
5k views

Mobile app navigation: Back vs. cancel

I am designing a mobile app in which there is at least one multi-step process. Throughout the app, I want the back button to mean back one step, but not up a level in information hierarchy. During ...
JClaussFTW's user avatar
  • 1,326
15 votes
3 answers
3k views

Do average users expect the Esc key to work on websites?

I'm currently working on a fairly standard website where one page lists a series of projects - clicking on a project leads to an animation and then displays detailed info for it. I've got a back link ...
Tom Walters's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
4k views

Back button shows user old state

QA have found the following bug in our web application: Go to a list of sprockets Create a new sprocket Click the back button Result: The list of sprockets shown does not include the sprocket that ...
Justin's user avatar
  • 233
13 votes
5 answers
958 views

Should a music player's previous button go back sequentially or by history?

I develop a music player for a living and I just encountered an interesting scenario. The scenario is this: 500 songs queued up to play. Song #1 is active and playing. You double-click on song #500. ...
Sean Anderson's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
10k views

Is a back button a good idea for mobile?

Is a back button a good idea for mobile? (Disregard breadcrumbs on mobile in the image - those are addressed here Breadcrumbs: OK to use on mobile site?)
Mark Gavagan's user avatar
11 votes
5 answers
11k views

Android back button - Global history back, or menu back?

On the Android, is the expected action of the back button to navigate backward through menus, or does it just go "back" to the previous screen you came from? I don't have an Android device to sample ...
Stefan Kendall's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
7k views

Should I remove a back button from the UI considering every Android phone has a hardware back button?

I've published my android app where in every screen I've put a back button in the actionBar. Now considering that every android phone has a back hardware button, should I remove this button or is it ...
libathos's user avatar
  • 219
10 votes
2 answers
3k views

Should opening a modal box change the browser history?

I am displaying images which can be clicked to be opened in a modal box (like this plugin does) and zoomed when pinched on touch devices (like this demo). The actual modalbox is as follows: It ...
Alvaro's user avatar
  • 16.8k
9 votes
5 answers
15k views

Good idea to have back button close a modal window?

I have a request to make the browser's back button close a modal window. I think it's probably a good idea, since I think the majority of times when a user is looking at a modal window (and this is ...
Damon's user avatar
  • 885
9 votes
1 answer
8k views

Android back button; save or cancel?

I'm working on an Android app that has an activity where the user can add/modify an item. In the action bar at the top of the activity there is a save and cancel button. It behaves like a fullscreen ...
BLeB's user avatar
  • 193
9 votes
4 answers
17k views

Back Button and Menu Button in Top Navigation for iOS

We want to have users navigate our app using a side menu. Once a user leaves main app pages, the menu button (in top left corner of nav) would change to a back button. However, the content of our ...
emily's user avatar
  • 91
9 votes
1 answer
5k views

Best design for 'undo' in rich web apps?

I'm wondering what is the best UI pattern to allow users to 'undo' an action in a rich web application? Background: Before you say 'just use the Back button', please read this article which does a ...
M.A.X's user avatar
  • 2,032
8 votes
4 answers
7k views

Do I really need a back button?

I have created a webapp which the user can see many posts on the main page. Once clicked, the window redirects to the post page. On my navbar, I have my website logo, which when clicked redirects to ...
Nick Ginanto's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
5k views

Mobile App Back Button Placement

I am building a mobile application that uses a button to launch the navigation menu (much like the Path or Facebook interface). I also want to add a back button. The standard seems to be to place ...
Shawn's user avatar
  • 113
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is a 'back' button needed on a web form?

I am re-designing a multi-page web form that currently contains 'back' and 'continue' buttons. I am wondering -- is the 'back' button necessary? If the user wants to go back, they will know to use ...
Michael Heraghty's user avatar
8 votes
6 answers
3k views

Custom back button in page

I had a discussion with a friend about adding a custom back button on every page in a website. What I mean by a custom back button is a link or a button, that will do just onclick="history.back();". ...
Panos Bariamis's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
707 views

Do good UX guidelines exist against little JS windows inside the browser

I encounter a lot of web applications that essentially implement a small windowing system inside the browser. On you web page there exist a number of little boxes that look like windows, which can be ...
AgilePro's user avatar
  • 1,517
7 votes
4 answers
1k views

Back breaking sites

What's the reason that so many site these days "break" my back button experience? Even stack does this: I read a question expand the comments, scroll to the first answer, follow a link, decide I'm ...
Pieter B's user avatar
  • 595
7 votes
3 answers
7k views

Navigation drawer and hardware back button: when on root level, exit app or go back?

I have an Android app with several different categories that the user can navigate between using navigation drawer. These categories have drill down views that replace the hamburger icon with a ...
fairport's user avatar
  • 263
6 votes
1 answer
40k views

Standard image for the Android back\up button

Android UI guidelines http://developer.android.com/design/downloads/index.html provide a back button image download but the button appears to be a bit different from the one used in the action bar. ...
Anna Rouben's user avatar
  • 4,174
6 votes
4 answers
1k views

Navigating backwards in Miller Columns

I've got a set of Miller Columns on a web application that could be wider than the page width. So this means the first level of the hierarchy might not be visible anymore. What's the most effective ...
Mark D's user avatar
  • 2,311
6 votes
5 answers
2k views

Should touch-screen simple informational dialogs have an OK button?

I am developing an android application which has quite a few dialogs that just contain text and an 'OK' button. Pressing the 'OK' button loses the dialog, as does pressing the 'back' button on the ...
DanielGibbs's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
763 views

Menu tray + Back button on mobile: any reason why this shouldn't work?

I am trying to understand if there is any issue linked to the presence on the same interface of a menu-tray icon (top nav-bar) and a back button. This design will affect both iPad and iPhone. Is ...
Taritaro's user avatar
  • 373
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why there is <- Back button on top of tool bar in Android

Recently i have noticed there an <-(Back Arrow Button) on top of the tool bar in new material design themes.We have an back button in android then why do we need The top back button arrow. Not ...
IamAbhijit's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

Kiosk and back button

I'm designing a kiosk app, we have 2 navigation elements; 1 button for the main menu and 1 for 'back'. So my question is: When should we show the back button? For example, after selecting a menu ...
user15564's user avatar
  • 363
6 votes
2 answers
3k views

Back button (or similar) and breadcrumbs, or just breadcrumbs

Should a website that keeps track of 'Breadcrumbs' need to provide a back button, or similar means of returning to the parent page on each 'subpage'? To give a visual example: Here is my main page ...
rlemon's user avatar
  • 334
5 votes
4 answers
5k views

Disabling the browser's back button in multi-page forms

We're having this internal debate where some people think that the user shouldn't use the browser's "back" button when filling a multi-page form (for security reasons), and that the whoever hits the "...
Mashhoor's user avatar
  • 5,787
5 votes
4 answers
5k views

Where to place the '< Back' link or button?

I am building a simple transactional site with two step process both on web and mobile (responsive). Target users both male & female age from 30-40 relatively tech savvy. First page is a ...
Jade's user avatar
  • 345
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why don't Facebook and Instagram use back-to-top buttons/links?

I am a user of both social network apps. Why don't these big companies provide a back-to-top button after scrolling down? Similar to Ebay and Tumblr.
Sknny's user avatar
  • 1,332
5 votes
2 answers
5k views

How do I know when to use back or close button (or both) on mobile apps

I want to know when and why should I use the X or back button on top of the page. And additionally, related to that, how should I judge the transitions, when should a page just slide from the right, ...
Mateus Miyano's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

Is the back button in Windows 8 apps purely chronological?

The back button is ubiquitous in Windows 8 ("Metro") apps. What exactly is its meaning? The Microsoft apps I have seen and the Visual Studio page templates use the button in a chronological manner (...
Sebastian Negraszus's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
901 views

Back Button Color in iOS

Why exactly is it that I'm not finding very many examples of a Back button being different color from the app background? Is there somekind of a rule in place? I proposed using a black Back button ...
zsiberian's user avatar
  • 171
4 votes
1 answer
7k views

Back button on mobile web app

I have 2 main questions about the back button and its functionality on a web site when running on a mobile. This isn't an app, but a responsive website working like an app. The first question is ...
CelsomTrindade's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
4k views

Default action for the "Do you want to leave the page?" warning?

When you compose a question/answer on a StackExchange site and then navigate away before submitting it, you get a popup, warning you: (translated:) The "Leave Page" button is selected by ...
unor's user avatar
  • 3,946
4 votes
3 answers
8k views

Recommended browser back button behaviour for SPA's

Our company is building an SPA and we're having a discussion about the best behavior for the browser back button. The SPA is a management tool with a lot of tables and filters. Every time a filter is ...
generator's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
798 views

Does it make sense to put a back button on first page of a wizard?

I have implemented this four-step wizard. ┌───────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┐ │         X │         X │         X │         X │ │ │ │ │ │ │   ...
Qwerty's user avatar
  • 143
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is the best way to handle browser back navigation on checkout?

Consider the following scenario for an online checkout/purchase process... User goes through the application and enters all their information and billing information. User then clicks "Complete ...
antonpug's user avatar
  • 151
4 votes
2 answers
671 views

Back button or Cancel/Save when calling server is necessary

Here we have a settings screen that appears from a sliding view. You tap "Messaging" and the following modal shows up: In order to avoid the complexity involved with synchronizing settings every time ...
ldiqual's user avatar
  • 141
3 votes
3 answers
634 views

Rationale behind not having infinite undo [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Undo History - Why limit it? First off, this seemed like the best spot as Undo is a de facto user interface requirement for any editing program. For school we use Photoshop ...
Cole Tobin's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
8k views

Modal vs non-modal views in iPhone

I've been reading and looking at different iOS apps to design the UI for mine, and it feels like sometimes the difference between using a modal view or a non-modal view is not entirely clear... for ...
AppsDev's user avatar
  • 591
3 votes
3 answers
20k views

Back button look bootstrap which one to use?

I have a multi page web app where the user first selects some information and uploads a file to import, then the file will be sent to the back end for processing. After that the results will be ...
Viktor Mellgren's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
237 views

Should a message show up confirming the user wants to leave when they press on a 'back' button within an app?

I'm having trouble deciding if an app should show a message when the user presses the back button while he/she is leaving. See image below showing how 9gag does this (note the "Press back again to ...
user120504's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
4k views

Back function in (mobile) native apps vs. web apps

I'm currently prototype a search / result workflow for a web app. You search something, click on a result and be able to go back to the search result. Now how do I display that? Do I implement a back-...
Michael Schmidt's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
3k views

Android: what are the best practices for up/back buttons?

I've been developing an android app. I'm a long-time android user and from my experience, I rarely (if never) use the up button provided at the top left of the activity and always use the back button ...
justbourv's user avatar
  • 133
3 votes
2 answers
430 views

Navigating a multi-part article in ios?

In my application I've got some multi-part articles, about test-driving a car. The articles are split into multiple section. I'm using this control to navigate between the sections (note: it's not ...
Lescai Ionel's user avatar