Question

So let’s say you have a URL like this: http://yoursite.com/#stackoverflow

If I type a new hash into the address bar, it tries to find that ID on the page. Is there amy way (possibly with javascript?) to detect that browser activity and then force the page to reload at that URL?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You need to bind to the hashchange event:

window.onhashchange = function() {
    window.location.reload();
};

Careful though: some older browsers do not support this event (see this), so you’ll need a polyfill for those.

Here’s an example plus a polling technique for older browsers:

if ('onhashchange' in window) {
    window.onhashchange = function() {
        window.location.reload();
    };
} else {
    var hash = window.location.hash;
    setInterval(function() {
       if (window.location.hash !== hash) {
           window.location.reload();
       }
    }, 100);
}