This isn't an all-or-nothing issue. The author generalizes that developers and users today use browsers/html differently than they did before, but what I'm hearing is actually a new way to use the word/button for "(go) back".
The back button has not changed functionality--it still works as expected on all non-webapp webpages.
From my perspective, I think the author should be asking for browsers to implement a new button that follows his desired "load previous URL" behavior.
The back button has not changed functionality--it still works as expected on all non-webapp webpages.
From my perspective, I think the author should be asking for browsers to implement a new button that follows his desired "load previous URL" behavior.