Originally featured in Tech Tails #724.
Every internet browser I have seen or used includes a feature known generally as “history,” which is essentially a map of where you have been surfing (over the last session, few days or even months or longer if your settings allow it).
This history list is something you can go back to and search if necessary—usually by day, week, etc. Perhaps to point someone to reference material you browsed by, or if you have to get back to that specific online auction listing you wanted to check on. Browser history is often a feature we take for granted or seldom use, but can be a needed tool to get back to where you were should the occasion arise.
There are always limitations to what the history feature can reveal; however, I came across just such a case last week while researching some genealogy info online with an associate of mine. We had finished our previous session the week before, late at night, and simply closed the lid on the sweet MacBook Pro 17-inch refurb purchased specifically for this project.
Upon reopening the computer the following session, and after checking on email etc., we tried to get back to where we had been using the History menu. It seems that the pay site we were subscribed to caches some of the information and documents that can be viewed, and that only certain pages were actually saved in the browser history.
As frustrating as it was to search the cached history that was saved the day we were researching, we could not get back to the pivotal document about the person we were looking up. We had already closed and reopened new browser windows and could not simply hit the back button at that point.
Needless to say, we learned a hard lesson about what the browser application can and cannot do for URL history. If the site(s) being visited have their own framework and cache their documents on their servers within your browser window, then your URL doesn’t change and new history isn’t being recorded. The pay site being subscribed to does have a “shoebox” feature which will be utilized much more frequently moving forward, and I expect to never lose out on an opportunity because of wrongly trusting the history feature.
While we have yet to get back to the document for the 1890’s Haverford College registry listing H. W. B. Wood’s attendance, we know the file exists, and we’ll find it again eventually. In the meantime, we’ll be adding other important documents to the “shoebox” of documents since the browser history will not save the exact content being viewed. Lesson learned!
Image source: The History Channel