Links to layers

[Susie Smith]

I've got a few layers on a few pages in a new site. What I can't figure out is
how to get a "go back" button to go back to the last page showing the last
layer states. Many times, a "back" function (like this: <a
href="javascript:history.back()") goes back to the correct page but not showing
the layers that were visible last. It seems that sort of link only goes back
to the 'default' layer visibility states.

How can I fix this?

[mzanime.com]

So ,just to make sure I understand you correctly- you've got multiple layers on
multiple pages, and those layers display/hide based upon the users click or
other mouse movement, yes?

The user can go forward to a new page, and then you want for them to click a
"back" link which would return them to the page they were at, with the exact
same layer they was at, still visible. Sounds like you'll need some kind of
complex javascript for that one, if thats the case. Might even need some kind
of named anchored inside the URL.

(This here is a perfect example of how the :target pseudo class can be used in
CSS3, as an alternative to bulky Javascript)

[Susie Smith]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm after.

Any ideas on the JS I'd need? It doesn't seem that difficult (but then if it
were so simle, I wouldn't be here...yes!), and/or someone must have done this
before???

[Susie Smith]

Layers sorta suck, don't they? I mean, for anything much beyond silly menus.

[Murray *TMM*]

Why? They allow you to do quite a few cool things.

But I wouldn't use them to do what you are doing....

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"Susie Smith" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:dihuc9$gp1$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Layers sorta suck, don't they? I mean, for anything much beyond silly
> menus.

[Susie Smith]

Well, for example, a simple "Go back" button turns out to be impossible!

I mean, that's a very basic element of web site design...

[Murray *TMM*]

Well, yeah - misusing them the way you are, that would be true (my opinion,
of course).

Try some more conventional things without layers, however, like animating an
image around the page, or making a scrolling region, or making certain kinds
of menu systems, or swapping hotspots, or swapping images of different
sizes, or any of zillions of other purposes in which they work well....

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"Susie Smith" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:dij76e$bil$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Well, for example, a simple "Go back" button turns out to be impossible!
>
> I mean, that's a very basic element of web site design...

[Susie Smith]

Wrong! I'm not *misusing* anything!

I just asked a simple question about a very simple concept: "go back"!

Just because it can't be done with layers, that doesn't mean I'm 'misusing' anything.

[Murray *TMM*]

Oh. Sorry.
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"Susie Smith" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:dijn9q$4mv$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Wrong! I'm not *misusing* anything!
>
> I just asked a simple question about a very simple concept: "go back"!
>
> Just because it can't be done with layers, that doesn't mean I'm
> 'misusing' anything.

[mzanime.com]

Making a "go back" link is not impossible, you just coded it wrong.

<a href="javascript:history.go(-1);">Go back</a>

But having layers show/hide andredisplay based upon which layer was visible
when the user left the page last is quite beyond me. (Using JS that is.)

[DW_Steve]

I have an idea...

Although I'm not a cookie or JS expert, one thought would be to either set a
cookie for the "state" of visibility on the salient layer and then display the
page accordingly.

or

Same concept but with JS....set a global variable and pull from that.

[Susie Smith]

mzanime.com
<a href="javascript:history.back()" is syntactically correct.

There is a much easier, albeit not elegant solution: seperate the layers into
different pages. That's what I did and It works fine.