Ian Hickson wrote on 12/12/2008 2:50 AM:
> On Thu, 28 Feb 2008, ddailey wrote:
>> The user opens a web application as one of many tabs in a web browser.
>> They then, either within the application window, accidentally hit CTRL W
>> (or its Mac equivalent), or from the operating system, issue a close
>> application command. Most apps (as opposed to the more "passive"
>> browsers) detect that new content has been developed and in is jeopardy
>> of being lost and therefore prompt the user to the status of this
>> possible data loss. The browser, unless I'm missing something, seems to
>> have a different status within the OS and just closes without ceremony.
>
> I just went ahead and specced out the 'onbeforeunload' feature that most
> browsers support today that handles this case.
Speaking of 'onbeforeunload' and 'beforeunload' -- it'd be helpful if there was
a way to distinguish between the user taking an action which leaves the site
vs. taking an action that returns to the site. E.g.:
leaves site:
closes browser
closes tab
closes window
back/forward to different site
GET/POST to another site
navigates away using address bar
returns to site:
reloads page
back/forward to same site
GET/POST to same site
For privacy, it shouldn't reveal which specific action triggered the event, but
knowing if the user is leaving the site means webapps can finally auto-logout
the user, which in turn greatly improves security.
- Bil
