why do websites, where you buy stuff, still need that “don’t use the browser back button to click away when you are making a purchase”. Have we not got a better solution?
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There does exist better solutions, and most of the times clicking the back button will not have an adverse affect in most websites designed using modern solutions.
Suppose you have two individuals (A and B) who are performing some work. And suppose that for B to perform their work, A must finish theirs. Let’s also suppose that there is some runner who takes a non-instantaneous amount of time to transfer A’s work to B.
Let’s say that A finished their work, and handed it to the runner, who began to go to B. And while they’re on the way A calls out “wait come back I need to change something.” What happens?
Well if the runner is close enough, maybe they’ll go back and transport the updated work, and discard the old one. If they’re halfway between, maybe they finish giving the work to B, but also have someone takes A updated work (I.e duplicate items were created.) And lastly, if they’re already almost at B, they’ll just ignore A and continue on.
Notice how all of these scenarios is dependent upon where the runner is at in the process, rather than A’s statement of “come back.” That’s essentially what is going on with a lot of payment screens.
When you click the back button, what happens is dependent upon where in the process you was already at. Maybe it’ll cancel the previous order, and let you place a new one, Maybe you’ll accidentally be double charged for both orders. Or maybe it’ll ignore the fact that you went back, and just finish the order.
To account for this, websites try to implement a single policy of “don’t go back,” so that the user knows nearly 100% of the time what will happen. Your payment is going to be processed, and the order fulfilled.
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