4 ms·

The whole premise is focusing on a symptom rather than the real issue. I happen to love backspace, because having to press a chord, half of which is requires m

The whole premise is focusing on a symptom rather than the real issue. I happen to love backspace, because having to press a chord, half of which is requires my hand to move the arrow keys, is a major cache-miss for an action as common as navigating back. But none of that even matters. The real question is: Why do browsers not have an interface for configuring keyboard shortcuts yet? And while they're at it, add an interface to customize whether or not JavaScript in web pages can override certain shortcuts. Not being able to rebind C-w, C-t, C-S-t, space, backspace, etc. has been a huge frustration for ages. One of the reasons I use Firefox is that it has a robust enough extension mechanism to support add-ons like KeySnail, but the fact the key rebinding isn't core functionality is just embarrassing.

nfoz 13y ago
Yeah I think it's a huge problem that javascript/the DOM allow a page to have shortcuts and control over page navigation. This is so wrong IMO; the user agent should be in control. Because I am in control of my user agent.
- ygra 13y ago
  Then it gets really hard to implement your own text box, if you cannot catch things like Backspace, etc. I think those things are relics because the web evolved rather haphazardly from a document display environment to an application development environment.
  - nfoz 13y ago
    That "evolution" should not have happened. Maybe there's no sense in lamenting it now, except I think it's worth recognizing that we're still very much in need of both a reasonable web-like document display environment and a reasonable cross-platform untrusted-application-sandbox-VM environment. As for implementing your own textbox that catches backspace, that's a great example of the type of thing that web pages should not be doing. User agents should be responsible for the existence of text-entry fields, that way they can serve the text-entry needs of the user. Different users construct text differently. Also the consistency of UI of allowing users to know how a textbox works (because it's not redefined for each site) is a UI achievement that we have now lost.
userbinator 13y ago
> Why do browsers not have an interface for configuring keyboard shortcuts yet? Have you ever used Opera? This is in Opera 9 of 7 years ago: http://i62.tinypic.com/35014du.png http://i62.tinypic.com/35014du.png (Edit: apparently it's been removed as of version 15; sad but not too surprising. What drew me to Opera was this and the Quick Preferences menu: http://www.h-online.com/security/imgs/46/3/7/5/6/9/6/op9_f12-4e19fdd276181a03.jpg http://www.h-online.com/security/imgs/46/3/7/5/6/9/6/op9_f12... --- I don't think I've seen any other browser since that offers this level of control in a stock install.)

nfoz 13y ago

Yeah I think it's a huge problem that javascript/the DOM allow a page to have shortcuts and control over page navigation. This is so wrong IMO; the user agent should be in control. Because I am in control of my user agent.

ygra 13y ago
Then it gets really hard to implement your own text box, if you cannot catch things like Backspace, etc. I think those things are relics because the web evolved rather haphazardly from a document display environment to an application development environment.
- nfoz 13y ago
  That "evolution" should not have happened. Maybe there's no sense in lamenting it now, except I think it's worth recognizing that we're still very much in need of both a reasonable web-like document display environment and a reasonable cross-platform untrusted-application-sandbox-VM environment. As for implementing your own textbox that catches backspace, that's a great example of the type of thing that web pages should not be doing. User agents should be responsible for the existence of text-entry fields, that way they can serve the text-entry needs of the user. Different users construct text differently. Also the consistency of UI of allowing users to know how a textbox works (because it's not redefined for each site) is a UI achievement that we have now lost.

userbinator 13y ago

> Why do browsers not have an interface for configuring keyboard shortcuts yet? Have you ever used Opera? This is in Opera 9 of 7 years ago: http://i62.tinypic.com/35014du.png http://i62.tinypic.com/35014du.png (Edit: apparently it's been removed as of version 15; sad but not too surprising. What drew me to Opera was this and the Quick Preferences menu: http://www.h-online.com/security/imgs/46/3/7/5/6/9/6/op9_f12-4e19fdd276181a03.jpg http://www.h-online.com/security/imgs/46/3/7/5/6/9/6/op9_f12... --- I don't think I've seen any other browser since that offers this level of control in a stock install.)