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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

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
    - Narishma 10y ago
      Firefox has handled this correctly for ages. The Windows version defaults to Backspace to go back, I guess for compatibility with IE, and the Linux version doesn't. But in either case it's possible to change the behavior of the Backspace key in the options.
      - userbinator 10y ago
        Firefox has removed options before, but this seems to be one of the options they haven't removed: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.backspace_action http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.backspace_action I do wish it was more exposed though, given how many want the non-default behaviour.
DHowett 10y ago
The back and home buttons are not overloaded with other meaning based on context. Surely you jest. The back button has seen significant overhaul in the time since it was introduced; it changed from activity-to-activity navigation along the single "back stack" to a confusing, circuitous path walk between applications, their "up" stacks, their "back" stacks, and everything else under the sun. It's difficult to determine when it will take you to the previous activity or to a page you haven't seen in the days since you last launched the application you just ended up on. If you're in a browser, the back hardware key takes you back -- until it determines that you've reached a navigation root (which might not be the earliest page in the chain), and it pops you back to the previous application or the home screen. Perhaps it closes the tab? If the keyboard is up, it dismisses it -- unless you're in an autocorrect action (* on certain phones). Maybe it opens the keyboard, too, because it took you back to a previously focused field. It's far from "not overloaded with other meaning based on context". It is, in fact, "entirely overloaded with other meaning; much of which is based solely on context."
- galacticpony 10y ago
  It may be confusing, but that confusing "back behavior" is the one behavior it has, even if it has changed over time. It is not overloaded. It doesn't start deleting characters depending on where your last tap may have (accidentally) been. Well, maybe some app does that, but I hope you get my point.
- DonHopkins 10y ago
  One feature Android's back button is NOT overloaded with yet is deleting the character before the cursor, and let's keep it that way, please.

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
  - Narishma 10y ago
    Firefox has handled this correctly for ages. The Windows version defaults to Backspace to go back, I guess for compatibility with IE, and the Linux version doesn't. But in either case it's possible to change the behavior of the Backspace key in the options.
    - userbinator 10y ago
      Firefox has removed options before, but this seems to be one of the options they haven't removed: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.backspace_action http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.backspace_action I do wish it was more exposed though, given how many want the non-default behaviour.

DHowett 10y ago

The back and home buttons are not overloaded with other meaning based on context. Surely you jest. The back button has seen significant overhaul in the time since it was introduced; it changed from activity-to-activity navigation along the single "back stack" to a confusing, circuitous path walk between applications, their "up" stacks, their "back" stacks, and everything else under the sun. It's difficult to determine when it will take you to the previous activity or to a page you haven't seen in the days since you last launched the application you just ended up on. If you're in a browser, the back hardware key takes you back -- until it determines that you've reached a navigation root (which might not be the earliest page in the chain), and it pops you back to the previous application or the home screen. Perhaps it closes the tab? If the keyboard is up, it dismisses it -- unless you're in an autocorrect action (* on certain phones). Maybe it opens the keyboard, too, because it took you back to a previously focused field. It's far from "not overloaded with other meaning based on context". It is, in fact, "entirely overloaded with other meaning; much of which is based solely on context."

galacticpony 10y ago
It may be confusing, but that confusing "back behavior" is the one behavior it has, even if it has changed over time. It is not overloaded. It doesn't start deleting characters depending on where your last tap may have (accidentally) been. Well, maybe some app does that, but I hope you get my point.
DonHopkins 10y ago
One feature Android's back button is NOT overloaded with yet is deleting the character before the cursor, and let's keep it that way, please.