

Bad jQueryMobile Back Button - dottertrotter
http://uxformobile.com/the-bad-jquerymobile-back-button

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chwolfe
The jQuery Mobile team is considering removing the Back button due to
usability concerns. More info:

[http://jquerymobile.com/blog/2011/05/13/jquery-mobile-
team-u...](http://jquerymobile.com/blog/2011/05/13/jquery-mobile-team-update-
week-of-may-9th/)

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dottertrotter
Thanks, I didn't see that. I tend to like the back button, I just think they
could have done it better. I think I probably will end up putting together
some type of array driven navigation, where I can provide the workflow ahead
of time.

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mrspeaker
The problem is making the distinction between "mobile site" and "mobile app".
A back button for a "mobile site" should (arguably) act like the back button
of the browser - especially for devices that actually HAVE a physical back
button. But "mobile apps" should act like native apps (arguably) providing
breadcrumbing (is that a verb?).

It's a tough choice and a touch coding experience too (have you tried using
the history api to cover the case where the user presses the FORWARD button?!
ergh!).

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daleharvey
I think its best for both app developers and web developers and more
importantly users if they settled on a single set of idioms, the web is an
application platform.

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daleharvey
is this really common on ios apps? the back button actually just goes "left"

there are problems with the back button, and there are some things you dont
want to have a literal stack of pages (modal dialogs commonly), but the fact
that it doesnt by default do a completely different thing from why anyone who
has used a web browser expects isnt exactly a bad thing.

