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Google Restores Backspace Functionality To Chrome With an Add-on (betanews.com) 141

Posted by msmash from the faith-restored dept.
In May, Google upset many users when it announced it was going to stop the backspace button from also functioning as the back button. If you're among the ones who felt let down by company's decision, there is something you can do about it now. Alan Buckingham, writing for BetaNews: If you don't want to go to the effort of moving your mouse pointer to the back arrow at the left of the address bar to go back to the previous site, you can now install the new Go Back With Backspace add-on. The official description reads, "Go back with the backspace button! This extension re-enables the backspace key as a back navigation button -- except if you're writing text". The reason given for all of this, according to Google, is "many people lost their progress while working online by accidentally pressing backspace and leaving a page -- so we removed the feature from Chrome, and created this extension for those who prefer the old behavior".
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Google Restores Backspace Functionality To Chrome With an Add-on More

Google Restores Backspace Functionality To Chrome With an Add-on

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  • Why isn't this configurable? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Pseudonymous Powers ( 4097097 ) on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:15PM (#52734695)

    Shouldn't this be configurable?

    Is this already configurable?

    • Yeah, I'm with this option... I get why it was removed. I've been the victim of losing work due to backspace back a page issue. But, I'm also annoyed that it's gone, because I used it frequently.

      Instead of them being so binary, they could have just made it a configurable option.

      • Wouldnt a better solution be to save the state of the page you are backing off of, restoring it if the user then advances forward to it again?

        Whats the point of the forward button if not to enable things like that?

        • Yup. FF saves your state, even if you're 3 miles down a JS/AJAX hole. Just hit shift+backspace and you're golden.
          My guess is that if Chrome did this it would take another dozen processes and a few extra GB of RAM.

      • But, I'm also annoyed that it's gone, because I used it frequently.

        Instead of them being so binary, they could have just made it a configurable option.

        They should simply be promoting Alt+left arrow hard as the alternative. It has existed in all browsers since the days of Netscape Navigator, it is not shared with any other common operation, and all-in-all is very difficult to do unintentionally. There are webpages out there that switch focus away from form elements unexpectedly, and that's where backspace-as-back-button gets very dangerous.

        I recently used a site where if you delete all the text in a textbox, the keyboard focus goes back to the page. Major

    • Oblig XKCD [xkcd.com]

    • That's exactly what I was thinking. They could have made this a checkbox option in the settings page, but instead they removed the feature and then published an add-on to add it back in only 3 months later. All they had to do was add a checkbox and add an if statement into their key handler, that probably would have taken less than 3 months.

      • But this way they get inertia on their side. Google rightly wants to see an end to backspace-as-back-button, and through this action they have made sure it will never again be ubiquitous. Once people get used to Alt+left arrow, we can get rid of this abomination entirely.
    • Why make a simple script when you can have another "app"?

  • But Backspace as Browser-Back really sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:16PM (#52734703)

    I actually really hate that backspace ever did what it did. Realy sucks when you are filling out a form and try and delete some text only to have accidentally left the box and now have your whole form thrown away.

    • Exactly. As someone who has to work in the browser all day, every day, this "feature" lost me SO much work it's just not funny.

      It's also not as if this was the only option other than your mouse, either. Alt-Left Arrow does the *exact* same thing, but not with a single key so it's far harder to bump by mistake. You're welcome.

      • As a side note... If you do hit the Backspace key in chrome. A little message appears saying if you want to go back you use that hotkey.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sowelu ( 713889 )

        Alt-left-arrow has issues with keyboard configurations and with accessibility for some users. I can't use it as anything resembling a shortcut, I need a one-key solution. Very glad to see it's configuratble (though why not allow remapping to some other button--like, I dunno, pause/break?)

        • If there are problems for certain users due to their input devices then you fix the problems in those devices, you don't force a suboptimal solution on all users instead.

        • Haven't you cave dwellers heard of mouse gestures? New tab, close tab, back, forward, you can do any of those in a fraction of a second without taking your hand off the thing you use to browse the internet anyway (not that thing, the other thing).

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by epyT-R ( 613989 )

            Since this isn't merely about browsing but active use of a browser as an application platform, it makes sense to only use the mouse when necessary.

          • Haven't you cave dwellers heard of mouse gestures?

            The GO referred to people with accessibilty issues, and not everyone with accessibility issues can use a mouse. Many who can cannot use it with enough accuracy to use gestures. So please, don't start flinging insults at people who physically can't use a computer the same way you would.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by epyT-R ( 613989 )

        Make sure you click on or tab to the element you're working with to be sure the keypress is registered correctly. This has been this way since the beginning. Why is it suddenly a problem now?

    • But why hate backspace-as-back rather than hating the fact that going back destroys your form data?

      Surely that's the real issue we should be fixing here, not trying to paper over it by making it harder to go back.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by johnw ( 3725 )

      Agreed - it was a really stupid mis-feature in early browsers which has unfortunately been carried on and some people have become used to it and don't want to lose it. Although "Backspace" and "Go back" both contain the four-letter sequence "back", they actually do completely different things and the key should never have been overloaded to do something so totally different.

      It probably seemed like a good idea at the time to the person who thought of it, and unfortunately he or she implemented it without re

      • It's a bit like the twit at Microsoft who decided to change the directory separator understood by COMMAND.COM from "/" to "\" because he wanted to use "/" for something else.

        It was actually a twit at Digital who chose / for command-line switches in the RT-11 operating system [wikipedia.org]. This continued into Gary Kildall's CP/M (which became DR-DOS) and Tim Paterson's 86-DOS (a heavily CP/M-inspired OS which became MS-DOS), which used the same switch character for consistency.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by johnw ( 3725 )

          And indeed, it was used as a switch character in VMS too. The error however was in changing the directory separator character (which in underlying MS-DOS is still "/") to the totally unsuitable "\".

          I remember the early OS/2 development kit tools, where clearly a dictat had gone out to the developers saying that both "-" and "/" were to be used as switch characters. The trouble was, they hadn't done it properly by implementing some library code, but instead each tool developer had done it himself. The end

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tepples ( 727027 )

            It would not have been hard though to allow "/" to be used as a switch character to COMMAND.COM, whilst still retaining its use as a directory separator.

            I don't see how. Would dir /s produce a listing of all subdirectories of the current working directory? Or would it produce a listing of the s directory inside the root directory of the current drive?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by johnw ( 3725 )

              Would dir /s produce a listing of all subdirectories of the current working directory?

              Yes. A space followed by a slash would always be interpreted as a switch introducer.

              Directory separators generally occur in the middle of a string, the only exception being when you want to talk about the root directory of a drive, without specifying which drive you want.

              You use "C:/" to mean the root directory of C. It would be quite natural to use ":/" to mean the root directory of whatever drive is current.

              It's not as if all this hadn't been done before - Microsoft were just never very good at reading

  • -_- ONLY USE FIREFOX 45.0 OR OLDER -_- (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Perform all of these on your browser:
    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-stop-firefox-making-automatic-connections

    Then install NoScript add-on:
    Uncheck all under ABE and remove everything default permitted in the big box under XSS (google, twitter, etc)

    Then install Adblock Plus addon:
    Choose from their lists, eg. Easylist then add this custom filter by importing as CUSTOM.. you have to toggle a dialog box.
    http://pasted.co/6aeed3e0

    Just save it as a .txt file and import it as custom filter. You can re-enab

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Is that you, APK?

    • Why 44.0.2? Because at 45.0 Mozilla was already pressured by the US government and they removed the ability to spoof time/time zone.

      Can you tell me why I should do this? Couldn't a state-sponsored entity (that you might swear up-and-down is tracking you because who knows why) use a security bug/loophole to track you anyway regardless of turning off all communication settings with Mozilla servers?

      Yes, I'm serious.

  • enable it? funny... I did the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)

    by green1 ( 322787 ) on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:23PM (#52734753)

    I actually had an extension installed to DISABLE it... it was always an absolutely HORRIBLE idea. There's already the alt-left arrow combination which was far less likely to be activated accidentally while being just as easy to use on purpose.

    • ... it was always an absolutely HORRIBLE idea. ...

      For you, possibly.

      .
      But I have used the backsapce key to go back a lot. Indeed, it is present on Windows Firefox, but the Firefox that came with Debian has it disabled, and I find myself constantly hitting the backkspace key and watching nothing happen.

      I agree with another comment, it should at least be configurable. That way, both you and I can be happy. :)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by green1 ( 322787 )

        Because you use a feature doesn't make it a good feature. It's horrible from a design consistency perspective. It's horrible from a risk of data loss perspective, it's just all around bad UI.

        You got used to it, but that doesn't mean it should have ever been offered in the first place.

      • ... it was always an absolutely HORRIBLE idea. ...

        For you, possibly.

        But I have used the backsapce key to go back a lot. Indeed, it is present on Windows Firefox, but the Firefox that came with Debian has it disabled, and I find myself constantly hitting the backkspace key and watching nothing happen.

        I agree with another comment, it should at least be configurable. That way, both you and I can be happy. :)

        It may have been convenient for you, but that does not change the fact that it was a horrible idea. If you had never driven before, and built a custom car with the brake pedal and the accelerator reversed, it might work fine for you, but it would not be a good idea in general. Agree; configurability is king.

  • Caps-Lock (Score:4, Funny)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:33PM (#52734827)

    ...many people lost their progress while working online by accidentally pressing backspace and leaving a page...

    wHY DOESN'T GOOGLE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE FRIGGIN' caps-lock KEY?

  • ALT+LEFT (Score:5, Informative)

    by gameboyhippo ( 827141 ) on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:33PM (#52734833) Journal

    Why not just press ALT+LEFT?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Because 'backspace to go back' is default behavior in a lot of programs, not just web browsers. Try it in File Explorer, for example.

      Just like F1 being a nearly universal shortcut for 'help', F2 for 'rename', F3 or CTRL+F for 'search', and so on. I shouldn't have to relearn shortcuts for common behaviors in every program I want to use.

      • Re:ALT+LEFT (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Friday August 19, 2016 @05:59PM (#52735343)

        Because 'backspace to go back' is default behavior in a lot of programs, not just web browsers. Try it in File Explorer, for example.

        Just like F1 being a nearly universal shortcut for 'help', F2 for 'rename', F3 or CTRL+F for 'search', and so on. I shouldn't have to relearn shortcuts for common behaviors in every program I want to use.

        I thought that Alt+Left and Alt+Right *are* the standard shortcuts for going backward and forward in program histories. It's worked that way in every web browser I can remember using back to the 1990s, and it works that way in Windows Explorer. The backspace key doesn't even have an obvious corresponding "forward" key.

        I wasn't aware that backspace was used to go back in history in any program. I always expect it to erase one character, or do nothing.

      • Backspace to go back is a Windows-only convention. I use a Mac laptop at home and Windows at work. My laptop has a Delete key at the top right, a full-size Windows keyboard has Backspace in the same location. When editing text, their behavior is identical. In other context, Windows switches the Backspace key to mean something entirely different ("go back to the previous view, losing any changes you've made in the current one, without recourse").

        Microsoft have overloaded the key to mean two very different th

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by McLoud ( 92118 )

        Because 'backspace to go back' is default behavior in a lot of programs, not just web browsers. Try it in File Explorer, for example.

        Just like F1 being a nearly universal shortcut for 'help', F2 for 'rename', F3 or CTRL+F for 'search', and so on. I shouldn't have to relearn shortcuts for common behaviors in every program I want to use.

        Except webpages have lots of inner controls (memos or custom js-controlled stuff) where the user sees text and expect the backspace to delete the prior character. Try that in spreadsheet who share that specific requirement and see if backspace goes to the "prior tabsheet"

      • Yes backspace goes back
        But backspace at the same time also closes the page/form you are on.
        I think there is no program which closes your dialog form when typing backspace.
        Sometimes ESC does.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sowelu ( 713889 )

      Two-button chords for a very frequently used shortcut is problematic for people with physical impairments, or with no right alt key.

  • Good riddance (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:34PM (#52734835)

    I can't count the amount of times I've lost work because of the backspace button acting like a back button. I type around 80WPM, but I make use of the backspace key extensively; it's like it's hardwired in my brain. This should be the default behavior, people who want it to act like the back button should have to configure it themselves.

  • Great, so they have a plugin to support the old behavior. How about an option to have tabs show up in the task list separately in Android, the way it used to work?

  • Next story on FBI dot will be Microsoft.

    (now watch it not be)

  • Understandable problem (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:49PM (#52734977)

    Really I get it. Even though it is duplicating the functionality of alt+left which incidentally has an opposite unlike backspace, I get it. Why? My keyboard says "BACK" on that button. It doesn't get more intuitive than that.

    Yes it was a horrible design decision to re-use a key and cause many problems for typing in a website, but I get it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sakono ( 4659761 )
      Backspace is one word which means to go back a space not back a page. I honestly don't see why clicking on the back button is so damn difficult.

      • I didn't say my keyboard has a "backspace" key. I said it says "BACK". In all caps.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tomahawk ( 1343 )

        A lot of people don't like using the mouse, or having to move the mouse point all the way to the top of the screen to click on back. For then, it's a redundant time consuming move when a single key click will do the job just as good.

        If I can, I try to not use the mouse at all. When filling in forms, I 'tab' between the fields. When editing text, I use the keyboard to navigate to the point when I need to change something. I only use the mouse when I really have to, and adding another reason that I have t

    • My keyboard says "delete" on that button, so I expect it to trash everything I've done without confirmation.

      • To be clear, does your keyboard have 2 delete buttons with different functionalities? Or does it lack the backspace?

        Either way holy shit!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tomahawk ( 1343 )

        Mine has a long left arrow, no text. The meaning, therefore, can be taken either way - back, or backspace.
        By comparison, the delete key says 'Delete'.

  • Mouse buttons 4 and 5 for browser navigate is all ya'll ever need!

  • On windows machines, at least, there is work around. Two key presses now: alt + left arrow will execute back. I'm annoyed it requires two fingers now. But at least I can keep my hands on the keyboard.
    • The two-keypress thing is actually quite consistent with other switching operations -- alt-tab, ctrl-tab, ctrl-pgup/pgdn etc. I've internalised holding down a modifier key as a context-switch trigger, and then I see the other button as cycling one way or the other.

  • Fuck no (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Put the default back to how it should be, and let everyone else add the add-on.

    I noticed this change as well and I'm fucking furious.

  • Hi,

    Check out Vivaldi: https://vivaldi.com/ [vivaldi.com]

    I've been VERY pleased with it so far, under Windows, OS X and Linux..

    It has the one thing that I missed most from the old Opera: Sane/useful tab stacking/grouping built in, with the ability to save and restore such.

    Sure, many of you don't care about that, but I do.

    At work with the old Opera, I'd create sets of tabs, stacked as I saw fit, for each client and would then save them as profiles named for my clients.

    When I got a support call all I had to do
  • Like all video games, I should be able to create my own key bindings. If I want delete, Ctrl+Left_Arrow, or anything else to go back in the history or do something custom, I should be able to configure it.
  • i love how google directly responded by making a plugin for their own shit. why doesnt the browser just have a proper shortcut editor in the settings?
  • Backspace as "go back" has only ever caused me headaches. Even right here on slashdot. All it took was not realizing that the text input box had lost focus, and all my typing would go poof. The issue was largely alleviated when chrome started to 'remember' what I had typed, so hitting forward would usually refill the box, but it's still a bit of a nail-biter.

    I don't use a lot of keyboard shortcuts in browsers, really just Ctrl+R, so the change only works to my benefit.

  • Why didn't they just replace it with CTRL-Backspace or something? I use Backspace all the time - it even works in Windows Explorer. I have, on occasion, lost the contents of some form I was filling in, but the few times that happened didn't mean I wanted to remove the functionality.
    I'd be happy with a replacement - let Google lead the way towards using a different key or a key combination so that those of us who really don't want to have to use the mouse more than we have to aren't forced into using it fo

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