[whatwg] When closing the browser

[Bil Corry]

Ian Hickson wrote on 4/24/2009 6:36 PM: 
>>> Why do session cookies not address this already?
>> I think there are still scenarios where it would be valuable for the 
>> server to know *exactly when* the user logged out. One example would be 
>> those "XY is online" badges you see in many internet forums today. 
>> Today, those have a margin of error of about 15 to 20 minutes at best.
> 
> In my own experience, closing the page is not a good indicator of when 
> I've "logged out". I often have tabs open that I'm not planning on 
> returning to, and I often close tabs only to reopen them shortly after. I 
> see the same behaviour with others. So it's not clear to me that this 
> would really improve matters.

I think it's important to note that some web applications may choose to constrain users more tightly to improve security (such as when forcing the user to choose a stronger password than they would normally choose).  So while you may not consider leaving the page as "logging out," your bank may choose to interpret it differently, especially if they determine that most of their users never use the "log out" feature on the site.


- Bil