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Google Chrome To Disallow Backspace As a 'Back' Button (independent.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the all-time-convenience-vs-accidental-damage dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Google Chrome is going to stop people from accidentally deleting everything they've been doing. A future version of the app will stop the backspace button from also functioning as a "back" button. The change has already been rolled out in some experimental versions of the app, and has upset some users. Developers have said that the feature is only being partly enabled for now, in case there is "sufficient outcry" and it needs to be rolled back. People regularly press the button thinking that they're deleting a word from a form, developers said, but then find that they weren't actually typing into that form and so accidentally go back, losing everything they've done.

5 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Give the option by Ormy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Default behaviour should be backspace does NOT take you back a page. Leave a setting somewhere obvious to turn that particular function on again. Was that so hard?

    1. Re: Give the option by yuriklastalov · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Found the Google interface designer!

      "We don't put options in our apps because it would confuse your silly little heads. Now go out and play little one."

      It's the Applesque "We know whats best" design methodology. And it sucks.

  2. hmmm by devoid42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would have gotten first post but I hit the backspace

    --

    I am a figment of my own imagination.

  3. WTF by Spacelord · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No! I use that feature all the time. Together with vimium, it allows me to navigate while keeping my hands on the keyboard without having to reach for my mouse all the time.

    I know alt+left arrow works too, but a chorded keyboard shortcut is a lot less convenient, and I'd still have to move my hand to the arrow cluster instead of staying close to home row.

  4. This is a problem? by NEOGEOman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is sort of weird. As a long time Opera user I never had a problem accidentally leaving the page. My browser always remembered what I'd typed and going forward again to the form page would have all my content as I'd left it.

    IMO the problem isn't the backspace key, it's unfriendly browsers.