How does craigslist retain search query results?

rubyonrails-talk
1

When you search for a keyword on craigslist, a list of posts is returned. When you click on an individual post in that list, the full post is displayed. Then, when you press the back button on your browser, the results list is displayed again, without the server having to query again for the list of keywords. How can I get the server to remember search results without having to requery the database when the back button is pressed?

Thanks!

2

That is not done by the server at all. That is completely a function of the client's browser history.

In order for this to work properly the URL must be different so that a new history item is created. There are other ways of handling this as in DHTML History.