Google might remove Chrome's backspace navigation shortcut

If you've ever been filling out a form online and your slippery fingers accidentally hit the backspace key, you know the quiet rage that comes when Chrome takes that backspace key to mean you want to go back a page, and you lose all your information. That may not be the case for very much longer. Google is testing a version of Chrome that removes the backspace navigation shortcut, Engadget reports.

Turn back

The news comes from a Chromium Code Reviews page, which claims .04 percent of page views in Chrome come from a backspace navigation, and .005 percent of those views come after a form interaction. Because of this, those .005 percent of views are likely unintentional. Command-Left or Alt-Left will also bring users back a page in Chrome, but it really takes two hands to do, which means even the clumsiest of typers is unlikely to do it accidentally.

Some users have suggested Google just warn the user with a pop-up if they are about to lose form information via a backspace shortcut. If that doesn't work, there's always the Chrome BackStop extension.

• ViaEngadget
• SourceChromium Code Reviews