
Go Back with Backspace - twapi
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/go-back-with-backspace/eekailopagacbcdloonjhbiecobagjci
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myfonj
One amusing nitpick: this extension restores the backspace-outside-text-input-
elements key press functionality, yet does not restore the shift+backspace
counterpart (ATM).

Second bitterly amusing fact is that proclaimed drawback of "accidental"
backspace causing loss of data entered into form is (FMPoW) in fact quite hard
to achieve: you have to make really poor web-app with `history.replace`,
broken HTTP redirects or wild JavaScript rendering without proper history API
"anchoring" of the view state. For normal use-case (like writing this comment)
I am confident that I can go back to previous page in history and return here
and I will get this textarea filled with text it contained before exit.

Third fact which contradicts my previous statement and surprised me a lot is
how many people here at HN expressed negative experiences with accidental
history.backs (paulddraper here and namely discussion under "Ask HN: Please
stop overriding standard browser navigation keys with Javascript." [1] I found
while digging.

Btw, Firefox goes even further: it is able to re-fill generated elements,
keeps filled values after (soft) reload (aka F5 or CTRL+R) and generally
prevents loss your precious data so much that I haven't experienced any
accident of this kind in years (back in times this was not this reliable there
was "Lazarus: Form Recovery" Firefox extension [2]).

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3092100](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3092100)
[2] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lazarus-
form-...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lazarus-form-
recovery/)

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paulddraper
Huh, it's made by the Chrome team.

> Before Chrome 52, the backspace key navigated back...Many people lost their
> progress while working online by accidentally pressing backspace and leaving
> a page -- so we removed the feature from Chrome, and created this extension
> for those who prefer the old behavior.

I've been hurt too deeply by backspace to ever miss it, but but that
was...thoughtful of them.

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Jordrok
I still find myself absently hitting the backspace key to go back once I've
finished reading a long page and moved my hands away from the keyboard/mouse.
Then I mash the key for a bit to bring up the alt+left notification hoping
that maybe it will put a blip on their analytics radar.

I guess it's good that they officially released something to allow this, but
it still seems totally absurd to me to need and extension to modify a single
hotkey.

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bjornstar
What a mess, the google chrome team really handled this poorly.

