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(This post turned into a rant. Sorry about that.) The OS X shortcut for quitting an application is Cmd+Q. The shortcut for closing a window/tab is Cmd+W. Q and
by GeneralMaximus 16y ago
(This post turned into a rant. Sorry about that.)
The OS X shortcut for quitting an application is Cmd+Q. The shortcut for closing a window/tab is Cmd+W. Q and W are adjacent on a standard QWERTY keyboard, which means you sometimes hit Cmd+Q when you meant to hit Cmd+W.
Now hitting Cmd+Q accidentally doesn't matter most of the time. Most applications will ask you if you want to save your changes before you quit. Web browsers will offer to save your session. Also, most applications save their state anyway, so you can relaunch them and continue working. So not a problem, right?
There is one piece of software, though, that refuses to follow this convention. A program that has ignored every HIG and UI convention in the history of all known universes in the name of creating a "better" user experience: Google Chrome.
I didn't complain when they hacked the window system to put tabs on the top of the window. I didn't complain when their shitty multi-process model brought my aging MacBook to its arthritic knees. I didn't complain when they opened PDFs in the browser without asking me first, or when they used filetype associations from my OS instead of letting me redefine them. But this just takes the cake: Google Chrome will quit without a confirmation if you accidentally hit Cmd+Q when you meant Cmd+W. In the last month I've accidentally quit the browser twice, and lost about 50 tabs every time. Surprisingly enough, there is no extension that will fix this behavior. Yes, a couple of hacks exist, but they only work half the time.
I don't expect Google to fix this, though. There are gaping holes in Android that Google has simply ignored or outright refused to fix. I don't expect them to treat Chrome differently.
- aapl 16y agoYou can remap the keyboard shortcut to something harder to accidentally hit in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Applications. Then click the plus icon. I used this trick back when Safari didn't ask before quitting with multiple tabs and just confirmed it works in Chrome too.
- desigooner 16y agoever tried enabling the "Confirm to Quit" setting in the about:flags page in chrome?! A little search before ranting would have certainly helped.
- AgentConundrum 16y agoI'm relatively new to Chrome, and it's still not my default browser, so I hadn't heard of this "about:flags" page before. I just checked that page out, however, and didn't see this "Confirm to Quit" setting. For someone who has a cat that constantly runs across his laptop, Firefox's warnings have been very handy, and greatly missed in Chrome.
- GeneralMaximus 16y agoThanks for the tip. I didn't know about that page. I still don't see any such setting, though. I'm on Chrome 8.0.552.237. What version are you using?
- slig 16y agoIIRC, it's 9.x and up only.
- Elepsis 16y agoYou mean "a little search" to find a tool that's only available in the +1 version of Chrome? I don't think you should have to trade off stability for the ability to get a warning (or save state) before you nuke your browser.
- someisaac 16y agoAt the same time, chrome allows you to restore your session after you accidentally close your tabs.
- notJim 16y agoYeah, in that way Chrome actually does offer an undo of sorts.
- patrickg 16y agoI accidentally closed a tab in chrome one day and all my text I've entered in a form was lost - so I thought. But chrome offered me to restore the tab - including the text in the form! I was very surprised and happy with this behavior. Now I am less afraid to use keyboard shortcuts, because I know that chrome will handle this allright (doesn't work always, I know).
- nitrogen 16y agoFirefox has a similar feature: Ctrl-Shift-T (on Windows/Linux -- probably Cmd-Shift-T on Mac) will open the last-closed tab. It works multiple times.
- eftpotrm 16y agoDifferent target, same problem (but without the undo function that Chrome has): Windows System Menu. Alt-Space. Very useful for those of us who use our keyboard shortcuts in preference to pointing devices where possible, but with a bone-headed bit of shortcut choice. Alt-Space-X maximises a window. Alt-Space-C closes a window. The Windows convention is for apps without unsaved changes to quit without confirmation (another silliness IMHO) so a slight finger-slip when trying to maximise a window can close your window and potentially your whole app without confirmation. Very frustrating.