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Chrome removes Backspace to go back

bugs.chromium.org

151–160 of 594 posts

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#151

I've never used backspace for nav intentionally, and it has caused annoying data loss for me a few times. It's never made sense to me why this behavior was ever added to browsers. The logical choice would have been the left arrow key (since there is a corresponding right arrow).

> The logical choice would have been the left arrow key (since there is a corresponding right arrow).

Without some sort of modifier key, this would come with the same set of problems, i.e. failing to focus a text field while using it to move the cursor would trigger navigation. It's also used to scroll horizontally, so it would break other functionality. Alt + LeftArrow already works.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#152
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…

I'm primarily on Windows and that first feature annoys the heck out of me. I would rather scrolling stop or continue, but the snap-back when the mouse leaves a zone is irritating. I think the second is more of an optimization because when you click on the address bar you're most likely either copying or overwriting the URL. It's much less common to modify it. If you want a supremely annoying address bar, you should c…

I believe the name of the feature is called "breadcrumbs" and i also dont like it very much, as one poster stated it is nice to go up several levels without making many clicks but i prefer to see the entire URI and be able to modify it as oppose to breadcrumb "directory buttons"

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome now disables it unless it's in the app store: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2811969?hl=en EDIT: And prompts you to disable it at startup if it's unpacked.

Well, yes, having a popup[1] on startup can be less or more annoying than submitting the thing to the Chrome store yourself depending on how often you restart your browser. [1]: http://i.imgur.com/qX8bNcl.png

That fucking popup is the thing that finally drove me to drop Chrome and go back to Firefox on my home PC. Of course, now Mozilla is starting to go all in on extension signing too, so the joke's on me.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#154
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.

To add to this, I believe in Windows 10 (possibly 8?) you can actually move files to a grandparent folder by dragging it to the associated button in the breadcrumb bar. Going from memory since I couldn't reproduce this behavior in 7. Could also be wrong about 10; someone else should try it and confirm.

Got used to do this in Gnome, got frustrated when I found "breadcrumbs" in win7 can't do the same...

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you use it? I understand how it works but I see no advantage to it over the tree view. I always enable the "expand to location" option so that my tree view is exactly where I am. To me that address bar abomination is just an obfuscation of otherwise useful information with large clickable regions of functionality I don't want.

I think you are in the minority here. For most people, navigating from one folder to another is not "functionality I don't want" in a desktop folder browser, but is the main thing you want to do. I'd much rather have UI that lets me navigate efficiently than that makes it efficient to copy-and-paste arbitrary substrings within a folder path. I do the former almost every time I use the file browser and the latter basi…

On OS X, I think you can just right-click the window name and select the parent folder you want to go up to.

I think there is also a "show breadcrumbs" option in the preferences for Finder, which may or may not give more of the functionality you want.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#156
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alt+Left requires moving both hands, Backspace is only one finger away If only Alt-Gr+Left or Right Ctrl+Left worked...

Alt+Left requires two fingers, but not two hands. You're aware of the alt to the right of the space bar, yes?

In France at least we have an Alt-Gr key (roughly equivalent to holding Ctrl+Alt) on the right of the spacebar instead of an Alt key. And unfortunately Alt-Gr+Left does nothing. So we have to use two hands to press Alt+Left, that's why I personally prefer using Backaspace

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#158
Thank GOD. So many times I've been filling out forms and sometimes I hit backspace to delete something, and maybe I clicked on a dropdown, but it goes back one page and I lose everything. Not the end of the world, but pretty annoying and I'm glad they're removing this.

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#159
> "We're doing this via a flag so that we can control this behavior should there be sufficient outcry."

I love that they decided to do this. I think the justification for taking it away is really good.

I also think that the decision to disable via "flag" shows some prescience with respect to how the public reacts to things.

Great move and a template for "sound product development".

Re: Chrome removes Backspace to go back

#160
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Alt+Left arrow and Alt+right arrow (or some variant) were universal?

Alt+Left requires moving both hands, Backspace is only one finger away If only Alt-Gr+Left or Right Ctrl+Left worked...

The grandparent suggested - Alt+Backspace
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