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In Firefox on Windows when I press the Backspace key it goes to the previous web page I surfed to.

Why doesn't it work in Ubuntu and what can I change to make it work?

Cas
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Templar
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  • Reason for this is the same as in Chrome – Ward Muylaert Feb 27 '11 at 09:03
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    Alt + Left is the keyboard combination in Linux for "back". Backspace should be used to delete text. – Greg Feb 27 '11 at 14:24
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    Greg, the spacebar should insert white space, but triggers a "Page down" action as well when not in a text field. It depends on the context. That is why preferences exist, everyone can modify it to fit their needs. – Lekensteyn Feb 27 '11 at 14:36
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    The problem with pressing backspace and having the browser return to the previous page is that users have lost what they have spent time typing in by accidentally pressing backspace when their cursor did not have the textbox selected. This is less of a problem in Firefox these days because Firefox usually keeps a cache of what has been typed in but it is enough of a concern to disable that "feature". – Jeremy Bicha Mar 15 '11 at 20:28

1 Answers1

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To change the Backspace mapping in Firefox to the same as in Windows:

  • Enter the url about:config in Firefox addressbar and click I accept the risk!
  • Search for browser.backspace_action
  • Set the value to 0

Reference: Browser.backspace_action

0

Pressing [Backspace] will go back a page in the session history and [Shift]+[Backspace] will go forward. (Default in Windows)

1

Pressing [Backspace] will scroll up a page in the current document and [Shift]+[Backspace] will scroll down. (Default in Linux builds before 2006-12-07) [edit] (Other)

Any other integer value will simply unmap the backspace key. In Linux builds after 2006-12-07, the default is 2.

Community
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Lekensteyn
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