https://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-to-block-backspace-key-from-working-as-back-button/ * Edition: + Asia + Australia + Europe + India + United Kingdom + United States + ZDNet around the globe: + ZDNet France + ZDNet Germany + ZDNet Korea + ZDNet Japan Search What are you looking for? [ ] Go * Videos * Windows 10 * 5G * Best VPNs * Cloud * Security * AI * more + TR Premium + Working from Home + Innovation + Best Web Hosting + ZDNet Recommends + Tonya Hall Show + Executive Guides + ZDNet Academy + See All Topics + White Papers + Downloads + Reviews + Galleries + Videos + TechRepublic Forums * Newsletters * All Writers * + Preferences + Community + Newsletters + Log Out * * + What are you looking for? [ ] Go * Menu + Videos + Windows 10 + 5G + Best VPNs + Cloud + Security + AI + TR Premium + Working from Home + Innovation + Best Web Hosting + ZDNet Recommends + Tonya Hall Show + Executive Guides + ZDNet Academy + See All Topics + White Papers + Downloads + Reviews + Galleries + Videos + TechRepublic Forums * * + o Preferences o Community o Newsletters o Log Out * us + Asia + Australia + Europe + India + United Kingdom + United States + ZDNet around the globe: + ZDNet France + ZDNet Germany + ZDNet Korea + ZDNet Japan Firefox to block Backspace key from working as "Back" button Mozilla removes Backspace-key navigation in Firefox citing accidental data loss. * * * * * * * Catalin Cimpanu By Catalin Cimpanu | January 11, 2021 -- 10:16 GMT (02:16 PST) | Topic: Enterprise Software firefox.png Image: Mozilla Mozilla developers plan to remove support for using the Backspace key as a Back button inside Firefox. The change is currently active in the Firefox Nightly version and is expected to go live in Firefox 86, scheduled to be released next month, in late February 2021. ZDNet Recommends The best free video streaming services The best free video streaming services Is money tight? Have you binge-watched everything on Netflix that you ever wanted to see? Here are ways to find new-to-you, great movies plus TV shows for free. Read More The removal of the Backspace key as a navigational element didn't come out of the blue. It was first proposed back in July 2014, in a bug report opened on Mozilla's bug tracker. At the time, Mozilla engineers argued that many users who press the Backspace key don't always mean to navigate to the previous page (the equivalent of pressing the Back button). "Pressing backspace does different things depending on where the cursor is. If it's in a text input field, it deletes the character to the left. If it's not in a text input field, it's the same as hitting the back button," said Blair McBride, a senior software engineer for Mozilla at the time. "Whether to keep this behaviour has been argued For A Very Long Time," McBride said. "It's confusing for many people, but we've assumed it would break muscle memory for many people." Back in 2014, McBride asked other Mozilla engineers to gather data and see exactly how many people press this key before taking a decision. Subsequent data showed that the Backspace key is, by far, the most pressed keyboard shortcut inside the Firefox user interface, with 40 million monthly active users pressing the key and triggering a "Back" navigation. To put it in perspective, this was well above the 16 million Firefox users pressing the CTRL+F shortcut to search content inside a page and 15 million Firefox users who pressed the page reload shortcuts (F5 and CTRL+R). This giant difference between the first and other popular shortcuts led Mozilla engineers to conclude that many of the Backspace key presses were most likely accidental -- with users pressing the key thinking the cursor was focused inside a form or search field, but accidentally navigating back a page, most likely also losing form data as a result. Chrome removed support for the Backspace key in 2016 These discussions about the role of the Backspace key inside Firefox also took place around the same time that Google engineers had similar talks about Backspace in Chrome. However, while Chrome removed support for the Backspace key as a page navigational element in Chrome 52 in July 2016, Mozilla has dragged its feet on the matter for four more years. Nonetheless, this change is coming. As with most disrupting changes like these, some users are most likely to be disgruntled about the browser maker's decision. Firefox users have two alternatives once this change goes live in Firefox 86: 1. Use the ALT+LEFT keyboard shortcut instead of Backspace. 2. Set the browser.backspace_action to 0 in the about:config settings panel to re-enable support for the Backspace key as a Back button. Top 10 Google Chrome plugins for 2020 --... SEE FULL GALLERY [][2020-04-15-15-23-19] [][009] [][003] [][002] [][003] [wAAACH5BAE] [wAAACH5BAE] [wAAACH5BAE] [wAAACH5BAE] [wAAACH5BAE] 1 - 5 of 10 NEXT PREV Security * Capitol attack's cybersecurity fallout: Stolen laptops, lost data and possible espionage * Cyber security 101: Protect your privacy from hackers, spies, and the government * The biggest hacks, data breaches of 2020 * The best VPNs for business and home use * The best security keys for two-factor authentication * How ransomware could get even more disruptive in 2021 (ZDNet YouTube) * How to improve the security of your public cloud (TechRepublic) Related Topics: Open Source Cloud Big Data Analytics Innovation Tech and Work Collaboration * * * * * * * Catalin Cimpanu By Catalin Cimpanu | January 11, 2021 -- 10:16 GMT (02:16 PST) | Topic: Enterprise Software Show Comments LOG IN TO COMMENT * My Profile * Log Out | Community Guidelines Join Discussion Add Your Comment Add Your Comment More from Catalin Cimpanu * [][malwarebytes] Security Malwarebytes said it was hacked by the same group who breached SolarWinds * [][chrome-logo] Google Google Chrome 88 released with no Flash support, bringing an end to an era * [][brave] Innovation Brave becomes first browser to add native support for the IPFS protocol * [][cybersecurity-training] Security FireEye releases tool for auditing networks for techniques used by SolarWinds hackers Please review our terms of service to complete your newsletter subscription. 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