14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla Firefox has become the world’s third most popular browser after the release of the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, yet the application keeps getting more and more improvements, many of them supposed to refine the overall experience.
One of the changes Mozilla is planning in a future browser update concerns the backspace key whose current role in Firefox is to allow users to go back to the previous page.
In other words, if you want to go back to the page you’ve just visited, it’s enough to press the backspace key on the keyboard, without the need for clicking the back button in the UI.
This is an old approach that has also been used by other browsers, such as Google Chrome, but on the other hand, most of them have already abandoned this configuration for a reason that Mozilla seems to acknowledge too.
Preventing accidental presses
The Firefox maker says that while 40 million Firefox users press the backspace key every month, many of them might actually use it accidentally when typing.
And what this means is that Mozilla needs to do something about it, so the company plans to disable the key completely. As discovered by TechDows, starting with Firefox 86, Mozilla will unmap the backspace key, which means that pressing it in the browser won’t have any result.
The good news is that users would still be able to navigate back in the browser from the keyboard, only that the shortcut would change to Alt + Left arrow. Those who want to re-enable the backspace key for this purpose will be able to do this from the flags screen, though it goes without saying it won't necessarily be the most convenient approach for the Average Joe.
The release of Firefox 86 is due to take place on February 23.