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Author Topic: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?  (Read 3400 times)

broadstairs

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Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« on: September 29, 2014, 08:49:42 PM »

Just recently I seem to find that when I use the back command in Firefox instead of reloading from cache it reloads the page from the server, has anyone else noticed this?

I normally browse this site and use 'Show unread posts since last visit' then pick the ones I want to read and use the back command (either mouse action or button) to return to the list of unread threads but more often now I find the one I've just read disappears. I find this somewhat annoying as sometimes I want to go back and re-read it. I'm sure this used not to happen. Seems to happen on other fora as well.

Stuart
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Chrysalis

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2014, 04:51:58 AM »

Doesnt seem to have changed e.g. on this forum its instant from cache.

But some thoughts.

in v32 of firefox they new cache system is on by default (I am using esrv31).  Its possible this new cache system acts differently on the back button.
many pages have dynamic content that isn't cached, such as adverts, widgets etc.  These will refresh when the back button is used.  for that reason I tend to block things like twitter widgets.

There is an option in about:config where can choose to effectively always load the cached version of everything unless you force reload, flush cache or relaunch the browser.  But although it sounds great you will also be loading outdated pages when browsing things like forums, so will find yourself e.g. force reloading to get new posts up on a forum.  The option basically ignores the ttl and expires headers of web content.
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broadstairs

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2014, 07:37:15 AM »

I do have V32.0.3 installed so that could well be it, and I do seem to think the change is very recent.

Stuart
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Chrysalis

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2014, 08:23:41 AM »

load about:config and see if this exists.

browser.cache.use_new_backend

if it does try setting to 0 and restarting the browser, and confirm if the issue goes away.
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boost

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2014, 08:45:46 AM »

This is not uncommon and you may find yourself on a PC where you can't alter the behaviour.

It may be useful to learn to right click 'open in new tab' or to shift click the links you want to read. Both will maintain the original page for your perusal :)
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broadstairs

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2014, 08:48:28 PM »

load about:config and see if this exists.

browser.cache.use_new_backend

if it does try setting to 0 and restarting the browser, and confirm if the issue goes away.

Alreasy set to 0 there was a _temp one as well which was boolean and set to true so I changed that to false but to no avail.

Stuart
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broadstairs

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2014, 07:39:10 AM »

May be I needed to restart Firefox because this morning the back command seems to have returned to its previous operation, so perhaps that _temp option was it.

Stuart
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Chrysalis

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Re: Has the back command changed in Firefox recently?
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2014, 11:18:09 AM »

I still plan to try v32 but my main interest in it is the GC improvements and cert pinning, however when I do try it I will observe the caching.

I have read worrying reports about the new caching tho about it going out of control on people's storage, some have reported temporary cache files of over 100gig in usage.

I have my firefox capped to 512meg cache disk usage and on  ramdisk so if it overides those options then its bad for me.
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