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0 pointsalex_smart2y ago0 comments

> But that was too ugly for URLs, so modern websites now use browser history APIs just so they can remove 3 characters from the URL and do stuff like

Would back/forward buttons continue to work if we decided not use browser history APIs?

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3 comments · 2 top-level

quectophoton2y ago· 1 in thread

Yes, and a quick test with Mithril.js confirms it.

I could try with something like React, but that's too much for a quick test.

mewpmewp22y ago

Mithril.js also probably uses the history API?

.replaceState() will replace current url without putting it in the history, so back won't work, while .pushState() does.

PH95VuimJjqBqy2y ago

The other poster is wrong, the entire reason the history API exists is specifically because when these SPA frameworks first came onto the scene one of the things that was broken was history.

So they invented the history API's so SPA's could stop breaking some of the user expectations they were breaking.

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