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STILL have to click the back button multiple times to go back a page.

  • 14 replies
  • 31 have this problem
  • 557 views
  • Last reply by Coyotlus

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When I pull down my history under the Back button, there are sometimes as many as 6 instances of the same page in the list. I have to click the back button 6 times to bet back.

People have been complaining about this problem for YEARS, and you still haven't fixed it. I do not have this problem with Chrome, so that tells me this is a BUG in Firefox.

When users report bugs in your software, your response ALWAYS seems to be to make them jump through a bunch of hoops to try to work around the bug. I don't need a workaround; YOU need to FIX THE DAMNED BUG!!!

You can respond by pushing out an upgrade that fixes this bug. Otherwise, don't bother me.

When I pull down my history under the Back button, there are sometimes as many as 6 instances of the same page in the list. I have to click the back button 6 times to bet back. People have been complaining about this problem for YEARS, and you still haven't fixed it. I do not have this problem with Chrome, so that tells me this is a BUG in Firefox. When users report bugs in your software, your response ALWAYS seems to be to make them jump through a bunch of hoops to try to work around the bug. I don't need a workaround; YOU need to FIX THE DAMNED BUG!!! You can respond by pushing out an upgrade that fixes this bug. Otherwise, don't bother me.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

Hi OldOllie, this seems to be a site-specific problem. I can't recall the last time I saw it myself, but I remember one user reported it on a news site where as they scrolled down, each story headline somehow got added to the history listed on the back button even though the stories were in the same page. I don't recall what site that was.

The "ask a question" flow on this site does actually have 5 different pages to get to your screen shot (example screen shot attached), and back should work to reverse your way through it.

Can you give some other examples? That might help someone figure out why those sites add history entries to the back button in Firefox but not other browsers.

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All Replies (14)

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window

You can check for problems with preferences.

Delete possible user.js and numbered prefs-##.js files and rename/remove the prefs.js file to reset all prefs to the default value including prefs set via user.js and prefs that are no longer supported in current Firefox releases.

You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:

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Chosen Solution

Hi OldOllie, this seems to be a site-specific problem. I can't recall the last time I saw it myself, but I remember one user reported it on a news site where as they scrolled down, each story headline somehow got added to the history listed on the back button even though the stories were in the same page. I don't recall what site that was.

The "ask a question" flow on this site does actually have 5 different pages to get to your screen shot (example screen shot attached), and back should work to reverse your way through it.

Can you give some other examples? That might help someone figure out why those sites add history entries to the back button in Firefox but not other browsers.

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This is NOT a site-specific problem. It happens on multiple sites. I thought it was a bit ironic that it happened on your site, so that's why I sent you that screenshot. I did NOT click 7 different links on your site to cause the browser to store 7 different instances of the EXACT SAME PAGE.

This computer is less than 6 months old, and I have installed every update to Win7 and Firefox. I don't think I should have to hack into your program to fix this problem when I don't have this problem with Chrome.

I'm also having other problems that necessitate my having to use Chrome on some sites. For Instance Firefox chokes and locks up my entire computer whenever I try to load a page with animated .GIF images; some media files will not play in Firefox; and some comment sections will not open.

It's getting to the point that it would be simpler to use Chrome as my default browser and use Firefox as the backup when I need a feature not available in Chrome.

The main thing that bothers me is that I can see from searching the Internet that there are dozens of people reporting the same problems that I have with Firefox. For every person posting about a problem, there are probably hundreds have the same problem but don't post it. I can't believe that you can't duplicate this problem by simply surfing the Web. We can't be the only ones to have these problems, and they can't always be our fault.

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Hi OldOllie, I'm not sure why you weren't able to go back through the Ask a Question flow one click at a time to each of the steps, but it should work for you the same way it works for me. Are you saying that when you click Back you remain on that last page? Could you test again to see whether this site is broken or broken in your Firefox?

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new

It's true that the pages all have the same title in the HTML, but they have different addresses, as shown in the attached screen shot, so you definitely should see the process reversing as you go back one at a time.


While this apparently happens on multiple sites, examples that can be replicated are essential to solving the problem. As you are more motivated to report the problem than others, I'm hoping you will give some other examples as you encounter them. This is not about hacking Firefox, it's about pasting some URLs and describing the steps needed to replicate the problem.


I'm also having other problems that necessitate my having to use Chrome on some sites. For Instance Firefox chokes and locks up my entire computer whenever I try to load a page with animated .GIF images; some media files will not play in Firefox; and some comment sections will not open.

The animated GIF and media files might be the same issue, since some sites now convert animated GIFs to video. However, would you mind starting a new question about that? Please use the Share Data button to include your graphics adapter/driver information with your post.

Regarding comment sections, let me reply in your earlier thread here: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1116623

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I still have the same problem in Safe Mode. I went to Brietbart.com, clicked on a story, read the story and some comments, clicked to show one new comment, and posted a reply to a comment. When I right-clicked on my Back arrow, it listed 6 instances of that page. I had to click the Back button 6 times to get back to the main site.

BTW, the only add-on I use is AdBlock, and disabling that does not solve the problem.

I really wasn't looking for suggestions on how I could hack my own system to work around this problem since it's not being caused by anything I'm doing. I'm just trying to use your software as intended. I was reporting a bug hoping that you could fix it in a future update.

Modified by OldOllie

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I assume you mean http://www.breitbart.com/ as that other one looks like a cybersquatter.

I browsed around that site for a while and did not get any unexpected entries in my back button history. However, I use the NoScript extension and wasn't able to unblock all of the ads scripts because every group I unblocked embedded more. So the problem might be caused by something pulled into the page from other sites.

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You are correct; I mistyped breitbart.

I just installed NoScript. We'll see how that works.

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NoScript requires a huge amount of "training," but you might find that you don't miss a lot of what remains blocked.

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This happens all the time for me on the AP news site. Just staying on the page and scrolling to read the article fills up the back button history. I clicked to this story from the DrudgeReport.com:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/654afc839388440f8a4efc2eb22ca41a/supreme-court-strikes-down-texas-abortion-clinic

Modified by Lewis Lorenz

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I fixed this problem (mostly) by upgrading to the 64-bit version of Firefox. I sometimes have to hit the Back button twice, but that's better than having to hit it 7 or 8 times. If your machine can handle the 64-bit version, I highly recommend upgrading.

I think this proves beyond any doubt, though, that this problem is a bug in the 32-bit version that cannot be fixed on our end.

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Thank you. I have Mac OS 10.11.x and Firefox is supposed to be 64-bit.

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I too am experiencing the problem of having to press the back button multiple times to return to the main page of a web site. http://www.seattletimes.com/ Select any article, right click in the back arrow and you will see 5 or more url's which are all the current page with the main page at the bottom.

System is Windows 10 64 bit, Firefox 64 bit. I just upgraded to the 64 bit version of FF but this occurred with the 32 bit version. The same web site when viewed with IE 11 or Edge does not do this. Therefore it is a Firefox problem, not the web site.

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Same problem though back arrow does not work at all. It seems to be for only one site: latimes.com. I have to click on bookmark to get back to the site. History shows how many time I used "back" arrow.