Ubuntu: Make Firefox Backspace Browse Back In History
6 Comments Published June 24th, 2007 in Linux, SoftwareI seem to be stumbling across all kinds of little tips lately. Looking about the about:config part of Firefox, I saw browser.backspace_action was set to 1. I changed it to 0 and now backspace actually goes back rather than jumping around on the current page. If you are using Linux (or any other operating system) and your backspace key does not go back to the previous page, just type about:config where you would normally type a web address. You can then either scroll down or start typing a filter (“backs” is sufficient). Find a Preference Name of browser.backspace_action, double-click on the “1″ in the value column, and change it to a “0″ and you’re set!
Thanks for putting this up! I was searching for something entirely unrelated (Linux command line arguments for Firefox [still looking]), and hit a page that linked to here.
The backspace = history, back, has been a feature I’ve missed A LOT since switching to Linux. I think it’s enabled by default in win but not sure why it’s not in Linux, but never thought to look in about:config.
Anywho, thanks! Post some tips on Firefox command line arguments if you’ve got them!
I’m glad you found this tip, then. It annoyed me sooo much too, especially when playing Astro Empires (when searching for someone there can be a lot of clicking on solar systems, then going back and clicking a different one). Backspace is setup properly in Windows and OSX by default, but not Linux. I have no idea why.
I haven’t done a whole lot on the command line with Firefox. Perhaps Mozillazine can help?
Mine was set to “2″ wtf, as an integer. Jeez. I am glad to see this fix, i almost switched back to windows because of this… yea right. Rock linux
Alt+LeftArrow does the job, too, and Alt+RightArrow does the same job but goes forward through history.
I didn’t know that Backspace had ever equated to History,Back!
@Jay: I believe anything other than 0 or 1 just disables the button. I have no idea why it would have been set to 2 without having been manually changed.
@Steve: It has to be the left Alt key plus the left arrow (at least on my laptop keyboard), which means I can’t do that with one hand. Continuously taking my hand off the mouse to be able to press the arrow key seems inefficient. If Backspace is set to go back a page, Shift+Backspace goes forward, which can be done with one hand also.
Backspace goes back in most browsers, because the wording “back” and many keyboards actually have a back arrow similar to a browser. Apparently in many Gnome apps, Backspace goes up the page (no idea why though, since there is a Pg Up key…) so that was one of the reasons for the switch. The other claim is that people might press backspace to remove some text and accidentally go to a previous page. In most cases Firefox will remember the form data anyway, so it doesn’t matter, but arguments can be made either way.
Yes! This is the single most annoying thing about a fresh ubuntu/linux install. Simple fix, cheers.