Dixon's Forum

Another busy week here at Dixon’s Forum, trying to get a fancy Back Button to work.

There are a couple of pages in dixonsforum.com that have no header nor footer, so the only way out is to click the image (or cheat, clicking the Browser’s Back Arrow Button instead).   For example, click here to go to Naomi’s Corner:     .    Here’s another one, called Clicked to Nowhere:    .    The only way out of Nowhere is to click the image (or cheat), which is set up as a back button by placing the string “javascript:window.history.back();” under the Custom URL option in its ‘link’ field.

So I wanted to make a similar back button of an Image Carousel widget because it’s a great special effect for my “About Me” page.   I’d like to have everything just right; while this is indeed a showcase for creative works, dixonsforum.com is also itself an artpiece, and returning from the static pages all the same way conforms to the principles of symmetry.

But, the Image Carousel widget is not available in core WordPress.   It comes from Elementor, and it does indeed have a custom URL option for its Link Field.

It didn’t work.   I couldn’t tell from the Help Forum answer like, “This isn’t supported at the moment due to security reasons.” whether the Custom URL feature for the Image Carousel had been disabled for security reasons, or if it was just “javascript:window.history.back();” that was unsupported, or if it was no Custom URLs anywhere, or no JavaScript anywhere . . . a little trial and error determined that it was No JavaScript anywhere in Elementor.

However, the Help Forum did provide a link to an Elementor thread on GitHub, which is “The complete developer platform to build, scale, and deliver secure software.”, according to its About Page.  This thread said the functionality could still be achieved by adding custom JS externally, setting a class for the button and adding this code

$ = jQuery;
$(‘.classname’).on(‘click’, function(e){
e.preventDefault();
window.history.back();
});

into the page header or footer.

I had only the vaguest idea what all that meant; both WordPress and Elementor say with their tools, you can build a website without knowing any coding.   Several Threaders said they had tried this method, putting the code in their header or footer &tc., and encountered this-or-that problem.   I’m still awaiting an answer from Elementor forum how to add code to a header or footer; the documentation only leaves me confused.

The GitHub thread is closed, but another Threader suggested a plugin called Happy Elementor Addons, which has dozens of fabulous bells-and-whistles to enhance Elementor websites, including a feature called a Wrapper Link, which the Threader said the JavaScript works just fine in for them.

For me, it only goes back to the Home Page no matter where I click into About Me from.   The Happy Addon documentation says to look to WordPress Help Forums for help, the Elementor forum says to look to Happy Addons Support, Happy Addons Support says it will redirect to a specific page not a back button, and if I want to “make this possible, please take help from a developer.”

So, to make my website the artpiece I want, I need to become a developer.   I may have been one by now, if I’d put as much effort into learning that as I have into learning the No Coding Needed websiting tools here lately, or had I not been such a hardcore practicing Luddite when HTML first came out.   I am now a Recovering Luddite, fully aware how self-defeating that stubbornly antiprogress thinking can be, encouraging everyone in pursuit of happiness to open their minds to new ideas, and not be an instrument in their own destruction.

Shopping for an HTML manual, against my Luddite ways, I selected something from For Dummies.   I never trusted For Dummies books before, their credibility having been brought into question by name-call insulting their entire target audience like that.   For that reason I have shunned them always, with steadfast vigor.

The bookseller says For Dummies enjoys the reputation of publishing the best How-To books on the market.   Plus, the more expensive textbooky alternative looked more difficult and time-consuming to understand, so I finally bit the bullet, and joined the millions who have accepted being called Dummies as the price of learning, and ordered “Web Coding & Development All-in-One for Dummies”, 7 books in one.

For now, I’ve settled for Back Buttons in the Header and Footer of the About Me page instead of clicking the Image Carousel, to be enfancied like I want it whenever I learn how.   Click here to see the About Me page of a dummy: 

Click here to see the third segment of my oral aural story, “That’s my Way” .

Click here     for the home page of the second segment, and here    for the second segment itself. 

Next Week:   the dawn of Industrial Art.