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Chrome removes Backspace to go back

bugs.chromium.org

221–230 of 594 posts

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#221
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The backspace thing has gotten attention more than ever on sites like Reddit. I have routinely seen posts complaining about it and the spacebar key doing behaviors that users never ever intended. For example, pressing space and then accidentally scrolling down which wasn't their intention at all, but is the behavior of space. I think some of those complaints reaching the front page of reddit may have helped spur this…

The tyranny of the vocal minority. It's a race to the bottom.

So an opinion with enough upvotes to get to the front page of a site where power users lurk is "the tyranny of the vocal minority"?

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#222
post #25

Chrome / Chromium have a habit of making these arbitrary changes that seriously annoy some (arguably small) percentage of their users, while claiming that it makes it simpler / better for everyone else, while explaining impatiently why it's infeasible to make the now missing feature a configuration option. Evidently the kinds of people that can't be bothered going into the Advanced Configuration Settings page would b…

Reminds me of the "flaw of averages" article [1] that was posted here a few month back. This seems like a general attitude in Google products features development, they try to find the simplest set of features that will please the most users, but that set probably doesn't exist, each user needs their own tweaks, and in the end their product becomes less useful for everyone.

[1] https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-...

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#223
I think comment #32 (https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=608016...) is worth highlighting:

  If you can fill out a formular field correctly without losing focus, you are not part of Chrome's target audience.

  edit: Had to type this four times due to accidently going back.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#225
post #213

Good. I always set browser.backspace_action to do nothing in Firefox, because this is SO infuriating. You think you have a text field focused but you actually don't (e.g. accidental mouse click removed the focus), you press Backspace and BOOM! suddenly you're on the previous page. Ctrl/Cmd+[ and ] is the real shortcut!

I'm quite the opposite opinion and use Backspace to go back extensively, because it means that I can browse the web with one hand on my laptop with trackpoint. If you're accidently clicking on things, maybe learn to use a mouse better. P.S.: Oh and if it's a crappy touchpad making unwanted inputs, then I share your concern (and probably a good time to look at other laptop keyboards; turning off the touchpad on this L…

> If you're accidently clicking on things, maybe learn to use a mouse better.

Oh, give me a freaking break. You never accidentally click the wrong things? And you never visit a page that "helpfully" plays around with the default focus behavior?

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#226
post #25

Chrome / Chromium have a habit of making these arbitrary changes that seriously annoy some (arguably small) percentage of their users, while claiming that it makes it simpler / better for everyone else, while explaining impatiently why it's infeasible to make the now missing feature a configuration option. Evidently the kinds of people that can't be bothered going into the Advanced Configuration Settings page would b…

At one point I forked Chromium over the click-selects-all in the URL bar. In OS X, this was the only application that behaved that way (until Apple recently followed suit with Safari...). Now I just use FireFox because they give me the option to override the default. I edit URLs far more often than typing in new ones. If I am going to a new URL, I generally type command-l or open a new tab...

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#227
post #127
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The file explorer address bar was one of the best features that were introduced in Vista IMO. If you're in folder "C:\foo\bar\baz\boz\" and want to go to "C:\foo\" it's just one mouse click. Or if you want to go to "C:\foo\bor" that's just two mouse clicks. Much faster than clicking "back" or "up" multiple times.

Well, to be fair if you have the much older tree view enabled on the left side of the explorer, it's only one click to go to C:\foo\bor. I agree with parent, the adress bar should be the adress bar. Also better for sans-mouse-use. Just F6 and end, ctrl+shift+left arrow until you get to before "bar" and then backspace, enter. Sure, it's more input but it's still way faster than reaching for your mouse.

>if you have the much older tree view enabled on the left side of the explorer, it's only one click to go to C:\foo\bor

No, it's unpredictable amount of clicks, drags and scrolls to unpredictable places, if C:\foo\bor is not immediately visible in the tree view. And worse, if there is "bor" in every one of 100 "foos" you have on C:.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#228
post #213

Good. I always set browser.backspace_action to do nothing in Firefox, because this is SO infuriating. You think you have a text field focused but you actually don't (e.g. accidental mouse click removed the focus), you press Backspace and BOOM! suddenly you're on the previous page. Ctrl/Cmd+[ and ] is the real shortcut!

I'm quite the opposite opinion and use Backspace to go back extensively, because it means that I can browse the web with one hand on my laptop with trackpoint. If you're accidently clicking on things, maybe learn to use a mouse better. P.S.: Oh and if it's a crappy touchpad making unwanted inputs, then I share your concern (and probably a good time to look at other laptop keyboards; turning off the touchpad on this L…

How small are your hands if you can't one hand ALT+ Left arrow?

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#229
post #59

Sometimes, it's better without these features. E.g. on Mac, dragging left in the browser is a gesture for going back to the previous page, and I can't count how many times I've accidentally triggered that while filling out a web form or interacting with a page. Isn't the back button and the keyboard shortcut enough?

Ctrl + ← is fine too.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#230
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what's next to override, the power button? I wholly agree with this WONTFIX.

It makes it quite difficult to write a terminal emulator web app. Chrome, at least, can resolve this issue by bundling up your web app as a Chrome app; apps launched from the Chrome App Store can launch into a context where the standard Chrome modifier keys aren't mapped.

Why don't you define an alternate button that acts like ctrl? It's the same as how in Windows remote desktop you have to use ctrl-alt-end instead of ctrl-alt-del because the software can't override the handling of that keypress
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