Backspace shortcut should be disabled by default

ThePythonicCow

Suggestion for handling the different expectations for this setting:

Add an option to control this behavior (whether or not backspace can mean back-page).
When installing a fresh new installation, set the default for this option to not have backspace do back-page. This way, new immigrants from Firefox, Chrome and Edge get what they expect.
When upgrading an earlier installation of a version of Vivaldi that (a) did not have this setting, and (b) did have the behavior that backspace can do back-page, then set this option to enable backspace as back-page. This way, Vivaldi users already used to that behavior continue to get it.
When upgrading an earlier installation of a version of Vivaldi [If any such versions might ever exist] that (a) doesn't seem to have this setting, but (b) when the version of Vivaldi being upgraded from did not have the backspace might mean back-page feature, then set this option to disable that feature. This way, these users too (if such users exist) continue to get what they have become accustomed to.
And, of course, when upgrading an earlier installation that already had this option, honor and carry forth whatever its setting is.

Pesala

@ThePythonicCow said in Backspace shortcut should be disabled by default:

Add an option to control this behavior

There is already an option to control this behaviour — delete the Backspace command for History Back.
Backspace is the default for History Back in Firefox

I have yet to see any reasonable case for changing the default behaviour, which anyone can easily change if they do not like it.

ThePythonicCow

@Pesala << Backspace is the default for History Back in Firefox >>

Not on my Firefox.

So I went searching on the Web to figure out why you and I had different understanding here.

It seems that on Windows, backspace can go back in history, but not on Linux.

From https://itsfoss.com/enable-backspace-firefox-ubuntu-linux/

How to Enable Backspace in Firefox: To Go Back to Previous Web Page With Backspace Key

Last updated June 16, 2020 By Abhishek Prakash 28 Comments

Remember the last time you used backspace key to go back to previous web page while browsing in Mozilla Firefox? It was probably when you were in Windows.

Firefox is the default web browser in many a Linux distributions including Ubuntu. And in here, the backspace key to go back to previous web page doesn’t work, by default.

Your comment thus leads to a key detail, that immigrants from Firefox on Windows would expect Backspace (outside an editable field) to go back in history.

What I thought was a compelling case for changing the default for new installations becomes weaker.

Notice however my proposal was NOT to change the default for existing Vivaldi installations. I realize however that I am talking mostly to the crowd most likely to be doing fresh installs of Vivaldi for development purposes, so that too weakens my case, for my present audience here at least.

I will change my freshly installed Vivaldi backspace to not go back in History, and leave this thread to resume its quiet slumber <grin>.

Aperrizio

Hi:

I think this would be good. When we are writing, we use "Backspace" to delete text. If we are not in a text box, we go back, and everything could be lost.

By default, Backspace is set as a going back key, and I always turn it off... after I remember it's on. Every time I install Vivaldi (after a clean OS install), I experience this issue at least once.

iAN CooG

remove it yourself from your settings if you don't want it, you only have to go in settings/keyboard/page/history back, and remove it from the keyboard assignment
It's a default in every browser since old times and won't change any time soon.

Aperrizio

I do it, but every time I install Vivaldi, it's there again, and I remember it when it's late. I use WordPress and it saves almost everything, but it could be worse. That's the reason other browsers did.

Edit: https://techdows.com/2021/01/mozilla-to-disable-backspace-key-in-firefox-to-stop-data-loss.html

Pesala

@aperrizio I also have no use for this command, but changing defaults is best avoided. Users get upset when an upgrade changes the behaviour, as you did.

If you upgrade, your settings are meant to be preserved. If yours are not, maybe you are doing something different to most of us.

Aperrizio

No, the settings are ok. It's not I upgrade Vivaldi and the problem is there again; it's when I reinsall an OS and install again Vivaldi. I forget the option is on and it takes me out of WordPress editor.

It's not a huge deal for me because WordPress saves almost every change, but I think in other scenarios when the loss could be bigger. That's the reason Chrome, Edge and Firefox changed it, and I suggested.

saudiqbal

It is a very bad idea to set the backspace button to use as history back button. So many times I have lost typed form data when I try to erase some text. Good thing Chrome got rid of it. Its time for Vivaldi to do it.

luetage

@saudiqbal You can change the shortcut or simply delete the binding. It’s already possible.

Pesala

@saudiqbal I understand that you want to change the default, but there has to have a very good reason because it tends to annoy existing users more.

Vote for the existing request: Backspace Shortcut Should be Disabled by Default.

saudiqbal

Up-voted since I have the same problem. https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/66401/history-back-should-not-use-backspace-button

WildEnte

@saudiqbal in my experience, going "forward" after the accidental back sometimes brings me back to where I left off, and I will give off a sigh of relief (I have removed Backspace in the options)

From my perspective it's a matter of simple risk assessment to choose the default setting, and the outcome is rather clear:

Backspace for back in default:
Likelihood of happening some time in the worst possible moment for someone who doesn't know it's the default: medium to high. Consequence: bad to terrible

Remove Backspace from the default:
Likelihood of annoying some users: very high
Consequences: negligible, as tinkering and customization is kind of a normal thing to do with Vivaldi

krystian

@joeschmo I agree, it is annoying.

hmazuji

ModEdit: Comment removed for breaking the Code of Conduct.

hmazuji

@hmazuji
pesala, i'm through with you
i'm going back to chrome

Pesala

@hmazuji Thanks for the entertainment. Good luck on your journey. You can always backtrack if you find that Chrome is also badly flawed.

Twelve upvotes for this request after three and a half years is not a lot. I guess that it does not affect most users, or if it does, that they are happy to remove it (as I have done).

FYI: Firefox no longer uses it.

I just installed Vivaldi.1.0.344.37.x64 to check, and that also used Backspace for History Back.

marin3rol3on

And you couldn't type in how you disabled it while you were complaining?

I just had this happen to me, when the text area lost focus, I pressed the backspace only to realize that I just lost everything I was working on and I can't find in the settings how to disable that behavior.

So for anybody here: it's called History Back.

I don't even understand why it isn't called 'Go Back' or 'Previous Page' or 'Go to Previous Page' or something like that.

These are the type of things that can make me lose my temper. Why simple thing complicated? Why delete key used to refresh page?

Now have to do thing again, lost work. Thank you Vivaldi

marin3rol3on

@Pesala That has to be one of the worst answers I've ever read on addressing an issue of a product. If this was an answer given to me on a coffee shop, restaurant or any other kind of service I would NEVER do business with said establishment again and I would trash it non-stop to anybody interested in said service.

Check yourself

Pesala

@marin3rol3on You are unable to see the abusive comments made by hmazuji, so you don‘t know the context. I also cannot see the edited comment. Some users like to complain about nothing. I stated things as I see them. The backspace shortcut can easily be removed. There is no convincing reason to change the default, which would annoy all existing users, just to satisfy a dozen or so users who don’t like the shortcut.

In many coffee shops, abuse of the staff is not tolerated. If the shop doesn’t have what the customer wants, the staff can only state the facts. If the customer is not satisfied; they should go elsewhere without abusing anyone, especially those who have no power to change the situation, and are just serving the customers, as is their duty.