Evaluating a Temporal Behaviour for Web Browsers' Back and Forward Buttons
Andy Cockburn, Bruce McKenzie, Michael JasonSmith · UC Research Repository (University of Canterbury) · 2002
This paper describes the evaluation of a `temporal' alternative to the normal `stack-based' behaviour of the Back and Forward buttons on web browsers. The main difference of the temporal scheme is that it maintains a complete list of previously visited pages. Results confirmed our prediction that the major limitation of the temporal system is in returning to parent pages. They also showed that the temporal scheme allowed many users to solve complex navigation tasks more efficiently than the stack system. Overall, the results are positive and indicate that the temporal scheme can be adapted to improve web navigation.