Various browsers on this forum when hitting the back button - the threads status does not update until manual refreshing as it uses the browser cache

Almighty1 · Sep 28, 2023

Not sure of the best way to describe the issue except maybe in the following scenario and hopefully someone knows what I am talking about:
1) When you are in a subforum from the the main Windows 11 Forum page and then you choose a subforum and then a thread of your choice that is in BOLD meaning it has content you had never seen before.
2) You press the back button on the browser, the title for the thread you entered is still in BOLD because the browser is reading from cache instead of asking for a refresh of the page as hitting F5 or Reloading the page will result in the same reference thread title no longer in bold text meaning there is nothing you haven't seen since your last visit to that thread.

Is there a workaround for this other than having to hit F5 or reloading the page in the forum multiple times showing the threads so you know which ones are already read?

Originally, I thought this was because Preload pages setting where I tried changing it to "No preloading" but the same problem still occurs.

Edwin · Sep 28, 2023

Almighty1 said:
Is there a workaround for this other than having to hit F5 or reloading the page

Not really a workaround, but, this is how I browse the forums:
As soon as I log on, I wheel-click all unread threads to open sequentially/descending in background tabs, then I go read, inspect, reply to and/or close them in the same order, then I return to the main page and start over.

Almighty1 · Sep 28, 2023

@Edwin - Thanks for that idea as that is what I do with Facebook notifications except I open each one, then mark it as read until I have enough opened and then also look and close each one as I go through them.

antspants · Sep 28, 2023

the threads status does not update until manual refreshing

More often than not, I also only see bell notifications if I click on the site logo (or forum, top left) and it refreshes. I believe you can set auto-refresh in Firefox, but I tried it once a long time ago and it was problematic, especially when in the middle of typing a post.

Almighty1 · Sep 28, 2023

antspants said:
More often than not, I also only see bell notifications if I click on the site logo (or forum, top left) and it refreshes. I believe you can set auto-refresh in Firefox, but I tried it once a long time ago and it was problematic, especially when in the middle of typing a post.

The problem with auto-refresh as there are even extensions that auto refresh but it's hard to tell it when or when not to auto-refresh since you don't want to be reading the forum names to decide which subforum to visit and it refreshes on you. And then also do it when reading a post part way or when already in the process of typing a post like you had mentioned. I've never tried it but I wonder if it will refresh if one enter the URL for the same page or not automatically.

antspants · Sep 28, 2023

Almighty1 said:
The problem with auto-refresh as there are even extensions that auto refresh but it's hard to tell it when or when not to auto-refresh since you don't want to be reading the forum names to decide which subforum to visit and it refreshes on you. And then also do it when reading a post part way or when already in the process of typing a post like you had mentioned. I've never tried it but I wonder if it will refresh if one enter the URL for the same page or not automatically.

What we need is an auto-refresh that happens when there is inactivity for a set period. But that wouldn’t really address the issue of instant bell notifications.

antspants · Sep 28, 2023

There would have to be a script written into this forums backend to update bell notifications, the set period however is anyones guess. I’m pretty sure, if you left the forum open on the main page (any page) and went and made a coffee, there could possibly be a red notification on the bell upon returning with an espresso… mmmmm espresso

Almighty1 · Oct 1, 2023

antspants said:
What we need is an auto-refresh that happens when there is inactivity for a set period. But that wouldn’t really address the issue of instant bell notifications.

Yeah but the problem with that is there are always exceptions like if you were typing or reading and got distracted and did something else, returning later after the inactivity timer had took off, not liking the results so seems the best method is when the page is shown, it would poll and refresh everything including the instant bell notifications... I have tried to leave a page opened for 1 hour and it doesn't update until one manually refreshes or open that page by using the URL or clicking something that goes to the same URL.