6 ms·

Is that why the Backspace key suddenly doesn't work on Chrome anymore? Annoying as hell. Who made this stupid decision? Android has back key and home key tha

by ww520 10y ago

Is that why the Backspace key suddenly doesn't work on Chrome anymore? Annoying as hell. Who made this stupid decision? Android has back key and home key that users hit accidentally all the times. That doesn't cause much problem. Why can't the Web apps save their state to better handle the accidental exit of the app? It's not just the backspace, Ctrl-R and Ctrl-W all exit the app. Don't break existing functionality!!

jtchang 10y ago
Try to view it overall as a product decision. I don't think it is necessarily "stupid". In fact I think a lot of thought went into it. Not just someone saying "oh today I will remove the backspace functionality". I think your arguments are sounds. Don't break existing functionality is good but you have to take it into context. Sometimes you have to in order to make the product as a whole better.
- ww520 10y ago
  It's just a lazy way to fix a perceived problem, and didn't fix it completely. The correct way is to preserve the states, like the phone apps. iOS and Android have solved it for the longest time.
  - galacticpony 10y ago
    That doesn't work. The shitty web app is going to intercept the "go back" event as "destroy all user data, as intended" and you're fucked. If this never happened to you, good for you, you lucky bastard. Now get out of the way, this is a quality of life improvement for millions of real people out there. Hard working people. Mothers and Grandmothers. Think of them while you are bothered to work around this slight inconvenience of yours.
    - tajen 10y ago
      Programmers can buy an awesome mouse with a back and forward button anyway ;) and infinite wheel.
- userbinator 10y ago
  If the intent of your statement was to mimic the sort of uninformative, bland, and completely generic pseudo-palliative doublespeak that often comes from management trying to justify their ridiculous decisions, you've done a great job. "You don't like it? Too bad, we're doing it anyway" is what such statements are actually saying.
  - viraptor 10y ago
    I think you're missing the fact that it says both things. Both "we're aware you don't like it; we're doing it anyway" and "it's a product decision". Emotionless calculation: X% people like it current backspace behaviour, Y% people use it only by accident (they may actually have telemetry to know the percentages). If they change the behaviour, Y% will be happier, which X% will split into "installed extension to revert", "won't care after a month", "switches browser". If the overall change is positive enough, they made a good product decision, even if you and I don't like the new behaviour.
dgquintas 10y ago
Poor man's fix... sigh... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/backspace-to-go-back/nlffgllnjjkheddehpolbanogdeaogbc https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/backspace-to-go-ba...
mSparks 10y ago
Very funny seeing so called "powerusers" complain they have to unlearn perhaps the most stupid shortcut key in the history of shortcut keys, and instead use another, much more obvious shortcut key (alt + left) and as a bonus, I just discovered the windows + left key, which is properly awesome on this shiney new(ish) xps 13 (much better than the old rotate screen functionality).
- ww520 10y ago
  It's funny people are unwilling to learn that Alt-right after a Backspace would go back to previous page with state intact.
  - galacticpony 10y ago
    Use the mouse to click on the back button, then.
    - ww520 10y ago
      Mouse click on back need to travel long distance. Why can't you guys just use alt-right after a backspace to restore the previous page?
      - mSparks 10y ago
        Because, as power users, who use both the keyboard and stateful pages, forward "rarely" restores the state and is technically forbidden from doing so. So an accidental thumb tap a touchpad + trying to delete a character produces a wait for the entire app to reload and then get back to where you were - which can take minutes assuming you were lucky and said app hadn't decided to wait 30 minutes to autosave. In fact I had turned off fast tap on the touchpad for exactly this reason, glad I can turn it back on again. If moving the mouse to the backspace button (seriously, the whole point of keyboard shortcuts is for people typing with both hands and not using the mouse) is such a problem, clean the mouse and turn up its sensitivity. Or better yet, get a touchscreen, you'll never want to go back to mister mouse.
      - 10y ago
galacticpony 10y ago
Overloading backspace with "go back" was a stupid decision. Undoing it was way overdue. "Android has back key and home key that users hit accidentally all the times." The back and home buttons are not overloaded with other meaning based on context. Android applications tend to handle accidental "back" presses gracefully. Accidental "home" presses are usually of no consequence whatsoever. "Why can't the Web apps save their state to better handle the accidental exit of the app?" Who cares? They don't and they won't. "It's not just the backspace, Ctrl-R and Ctrl-W all exit the app." It's way less likely to accidentally hit those combinations. For backspace, it happens all the time. "Don't break existing functionality!!" The functionality isn't broken, it's just that the few people who actually use this shortcut will have to use another shortcut now. Big Deal.
- ww520 10y ago
  Or people can stop using Chrome.
  - galacticpony 10y ago
    You're right. That would of course be a crushing blow to their user stats, to lose all five people in the world that actively use the backspace shortcut.
  - Narishma 10y ago
    That's what I did. I switched to Firefox when they made this change.
    - userbinator 10y ago
      What happens when Firefox makes this change too? Will you move to IE or Opera? Then what if those also follow? I elaborated more on the fallacy of "switching to another browser" more than 2 years ago, and it's still as relevant as ever: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7678583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7678583
      - 10y ago
adiabatty 10y ago
Sounds like something that could be done using client-side JavaScript and LocalStorage, but I don't know offhand of any libraries that do this.
DonHopkins 10y ago
Android users don't use the back button to edit text. Some web apps can and do save their state, but not all of them do, and you can't force them to by administrative fiat, filing bugs with mozilla, huffing and puffing, or even holding your breath. Does your phone or keyboard have dedicated Ctrl-R and Ctrl-W keys?

by ww520 10y ago

jtchang 10y ago

Try to view it overall as a product decision. I don't think it is necessarily "stupid". In fact I think a lot of thought went into it. Not just someone saying "oh today I will remove the backspace functionality". I think your arguments are sounds. Don't break existing functionality is good but you have to take it into context. Sometimes you have to in order to make the product as a whole better.

ww520 10y ago
It's just a lazy way to fix a perceived problem, and didn't fix it completely. The correct way is to preserve the states, like the phone apps. iOS and Android have solved it for the longest time.
- galacticpony 10y ago
  That doesn't work. The shitty web app is going to intercept the "go back" event as "destroy all user data, as intended" and you're fucked. If this never happened to you, good for you, you lucky bastard. Now get out of the way, this is a quality of life improvement for millions of real people out there. Hard working people. Mothers and Grandmothers. Think of them while you are bothered to work around this slight inconvenience of yours.
  - tajen 10y ago
    Programmers can buy an awesome mouse with a back and forward button anyway ;) and infinite wheel.
userbinator 10y ago
If the intent of your statement was to mimic the sort of uninformative, bland, and completely generic pseudo-palliative doublespeak that often comes from management trying to justify their ridiculous decisions, you've done a great job. "You don't like it? Too bad, we're doing it anyway" is what such statements are actually saying.
- viraptor 10y ago
  I think you're missing the fact that it says both things. Both "we're aware you don't like it; we're doing it anyway" and "it's a product decision". Emotionless calculation: X% people like it current backspace behaviour, Y% people use it only by accident (they may actually have telemetry to know the percentages). If they change the behaviour, Y% will be happier, which X% will split into "installed extension to revert", "won't care after a month", "switches browser". If the overall change is positive enough, they made a good product decision, even if you and I don't like the new behaviour.

dgquintas 10y ago

Poor man's fix... sigh... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/backspace-to-go-back/nlffgllnjjkheddehpolbanogdeaogbc https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/backspace-to-go-ba...

mSparks 10y ago

Very funny seeing so called "powerusers" complain they have to unlearn perhaps the most stupid shortcut key in the history of shortcut keys, and instead use another, much more obvious shortcut key (alt + left) and as a bonus, I just discovered the windows + left key, which is properly awesome on this shiney new(ish) xps 13 (much better than the old rotate screen functionality).

ww520 10y ago
It's funny people are unwilling to learn that Alt-right after a Backspace would go back to previous page with state intact.
- galacticpony 10y ago
  Use the mouse to click on the back button, then.
  - ww520 10y ago
    Mouse click on back need to travel long distance. Why can't you guys just use alt-right after a backspace to restore the previous page?
    - mSparks 10y ago
      Because, as power users, who use both the keyboard and stateful pages, forward "rarely" restores the state and is technically forbidden from doing so. So an accidental thumb tap a touchpad + trying to delete a character produces a wait for the entire app to reload and then get back to where you were - which can take minutes assuming you were lucky and said app hadn't decided to wait 30 minutes to autosave. In fact I had turned off fast tap on the touchpad for exactly this reason, glad I can turn it back on again. If moving the mouse to the backspace button (seriously, the whole point of keyboard shortcuts is for people typing with both hands and not using the mouse) is such a problem, clean the mouse and turn up its sensitivity. Or better yet, get a touchscreen, you'll never want to go back to mister mouse.
    - 10y ago

galacticpony 10y ago

Overloading backspace with "go back" was a stupid decision. Undoing it was way overdue. "Android has back key and home key that users hit accidentally all the times." The back and home buttons are not overloaded with other meaning based on context. Android applications tend to handle accidental "back" presses gracefully. Accidental "home" presses are usually of no consequence whatsoever. "Why can't the Web apps save their state to better handle the accidental exit of the app?" Who cares? They don't and they won't. "It's not just the backspace, Ctrl-R and Ctrl-W all exit the app." It's way less likely to accidentally hit those combinations. For backspace, it happens all the time. "Don't break existing functionality!!" The functionality isn't broken, it's just that the few people who actually use this shortcut will have to use another shortcut now. Big Deal.

ww520 10y ago
Or people can stop using Chrome.
- galacticpony 10y ago
  You're right. That would of course be a crushing blow to their user stats, to lose all five people in the world that actively use the backspace shortcut.
- Narishma 10y ago
  That's what I did. I switched to Firefox when they made this change.
  - userbinator 10y ago
    What happens when Firefox makes this change too? Will you move to IE or Opera? Then what if those also follow? I elaborated more on the fallacy of "switching to another browser" more than 2 years ago, and it's still as relevant as ever: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7678583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7678583
    - 10y ago

adiabatty 10y ago

Sounds like something that could be done using client-side JavaScript and LocalStorage, but I don't know offhand of any libraries that do this.

DonHopkins 10y ago

Android users don't use the back button to edit text. Some web apps can and do save their state, but not all of them do, and you can't force them to by administrative fiat, filing bugs with mozilla, huffing and puffing, or even holding your breath. Does your phone or keyboard have dedicated Ctrl-R and Ctrl-W keys?