Comments on: The Semantics of "Reload" http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/2005/12/06/the-semantics-of-reload/ Philip Jacob's web page Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:59:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Eric http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/2005/12/06/the-semantics-of-reload/comment-page-1/#comment-1498 Eric Thu, 08 Dec 2005 14:11:38 +0000 http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/?p=82#comment-1498 "If you view the browser as something that can or should interact with web applications, then maybe this starts to make a little more sense in those terms. " Good point. I think it's easy to forget this might happen someday because attempts to have the browser actually undersatnd the content (e.g. Microsoft's SmartTags and Google's AutoLink) have largely been met with suspicion if not derision. The closest I think its come to interacting has been via frames (where you can, in fact, reload part of a page), and imperfect implementations have led that to be blacklisted by the UI community. “If you view the browser as something that can or should interact with web applications, then maybe this starts to make a little more sense in those terms. ”

Good point. I think it’s easy to forget this might happen someday because attempts to have the browser actually undersatnd the content (e.g. Microsoft’s SmartTags and Google’s AutoLink) have largely been met with suspicion if not derision. The closest I think its come to interacting has been via frames (where you can, in fact, reload part of a page), and imperfect implementations have led that to be blacklisted by the UI community.

]]> By: Philip Jacob http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/2005/12/06/the-semantics-of-reload/comment-page-1/#comment-1496 Philip Jacob Tue, 06 Dec 2005 20:02:47 +0000 http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/?p=82#comment-1496 There's nothing to stop you from putting a "Back" button on every page of the web either. Right now, we rely on hokey polling mechanisms for reloading data. I can imagine cases where having the ability to refresh data would be advantageous, such as auction sites like eBay. And modern browsers don't have a way to take advantage of this. I'm not suggesting that we should get rid of the back button and your evidence of getting around faulty AJAX operations is a good example of why we should avoid doing this. If you view the browser strictly as a HTTP user agent, there's no way that you would be convinced by the point I was making. If you view the browser as something that can or should interact with web applications, then maybe this starts to make a little more sense in those terms. There’s nothing to stop you from putting a “Back” button on every page of the web either.

Right now, we rely on hokey polling mechanisms for reloading data. I can imagine cases where having the ability to refresh data would be advantageous, such as auction sites like eBay. And modern browsers don’t have a way to take advantage of this.

I’m not suggesting that we should get rid of the back button and your evidence of getting around faulty AJAX operations is a good example of why we should avoid doing this.

If you view the browser strictly as a HTTP user agent, there’s no way that you would be convinced by the point I was making. If you view the browser as something that can or should interact with web applications, then maybe this starts to make a little more sense in those terms.

]]> By: Eric http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/2005/12/06/the-semantics-of-reload/comment-page-1/#comment-1495 Eric Tue, 06 Dec 2005 19:33:00 +0000 http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/?p=82#comment-1495 I fail to see how the reload button has become less useful because of AJAX. I would think its become more useful, as it is the easiest way to deal with faulty AJAX operations. There's nothing stopping someone from putting a refresh button on the page themselves. If that behavior became common then reload would be seen as a safety/override switch just like the reset button on some computers. I fail to see how the reload button has become less useful because of AJAX. I would think its become more useful, as it is the easiest way to deal with faulty AJAX operations. There’s nothing stopping someone from putting a refresh button on the page themselves. If that behavior became common then reload would be seen as a safety/override switch just like the reset button on some computers.

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