access browser "back" from web page?

It has already been pointed out that checking data validity on
the client side in a form is an application of scripting which is
not only non-destructive from an accessibility point of view, but
constructive overall.  [It should be backed up by data validity
checks on the server side to allow for users not implementing
script processing in the client.]

Another function that could help accessibility would be if one
could place a clickable in a web page that exercised the "back"
function of the browser.  This is navigation in the user's
session context, not the author's site context.

It was noted early on that what one really wants for reusable
long descriptions of images is to be able to go back to a page
holding the image from a description that doesn't know which of
several pages containing the same image the user has come from.
If the browser is sending "referrer" headers, then a browser-back
button can be implemented by server side dynamic content.  But
there is no need to run this information through the server; the
browser has what it needs.  Just need to get the author a way to
connect with it.

Can this be done from current scripting/Aplet environments?  If
not, should we ask browsers to expose this in the access PI?

Al

Received on Friday, 27 November 1998 18:14:33 UTC