Back and Forward enhancement

[gfv]

In the current versions back and forward navigation is often unusable. A 'position bookmark' is set even if you stay on the same position for less then 2 seconds. When you look for a certain part of the text most of the time you can't scroll exactly to the wanted position, you have to stop for a moment to several pages to see if you are where you wanted to. This means that to go back to the previous position you have to click several times the back button, and maybe several times the forward button to return to the other position.

The feature could be a lot more useful if it worked differently; you can see a good implementation in the older versions of Foxit Reader, recently there was an interface redesign that made it currently working bad.

First of all, I can't see any reason for the current 'universal' history. There must be one history per window, thus even per each view if my other proposal is implemented; the current behaviour seems only to add confusion to me.

Then, for the individual histories itselft:
Only positions you had a real interest in should be added, that is positions on which you stayed for a certain amount of time.
I think that you should add one to the history only after at the very least 5 seconds its full loading (if the page has not fully loaded you're just waiting for it, you don't know yet if it's what you're interested in), but even 30 seconds or more might be appropriate.
Even a click on a bookmark should not be automatically added to the history, often you click on a bookmark just to move nearer to the desired position. Bookmarked position are always easy to reach anyway.
A click on an internal (and of course external, if it opens in the same window) link instead most probably leads you to a position you're interested in, and moreover browsers add internal links to the their history so it might be confusing if it didn't happen.
It might probably be reasonable also to add only positions that show entirely different portions of text, if you scroll just a few lines it's improbable you want to go back that few lines when you click the back button. Near position modifications (of less than the space of the 'viewport', or the page if it's too complex) should replace the current positions in the history, while longer ones should add entries.
The last position should always be added, it would be confusing otherwise, just it should always be replaced by the new ones until the user stops for a a defined time.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

A well thought post gfv,

I have to agree. I am also finding myself sometimes clicking through the fine tuning scrolls I did with the mouse
Maybe 30 seconds is too excessive but 3-5 is a good mark.
Also I personally think that each bookmark click should be counted as the links you describe - as even though you might have spent 2-3 seconds on the position this bookmark lead you it's still an important lead - you might have seen a link on that page that took you to your desired final location in the document.

Will definitely draw the attention of the development team to your topic and we will keep in touch with you here on how this suggestion is progressing.

Regards,
Stefan