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Hi guys,

I've actually registered in this forum just to post this reply, as I've been absolutely enraged by Apple for changing this feature. Like steve-p said, there's no sense in changing an established cross-plattform standard. In addition, the new cmd+[ shortcut is especially painful for international users such as myself who don't use an english keyboard layout (I actually need to two hands for this shortcut on a german keyboard).

tldr: I did some poking around and found a way to restore the old backspace shortcut. Here's how:

1.) Set an arbitrary shortcut for the command in the System Preferences
2.) Go to ~/Library/Preferences and open the com.apple.Safari.plist file
3.) Find the NSUserKeyEquivalents key.
4.) Replace the shortcut you had previously set by this one: "⌫"
5.) Profit!


Any questions: hit me up on twitter - @jrigerl

Wow that would be fantastic to get it back. Unfortunately I don't have "NSUserKeyEquivalents" located anywhere in that file. Ideas? Am opening the PLIST wrong?
 
I must say that this really pisses me off as I use a Razer mouse and had a side button that performed the backspace function. There is no way I will hit the "back" arrow at the top of the window as it takes too much time.

Time for Chrome anyone?
 
I must say that this really pisses me off as I use a Razer mouse and had a side button that performed the backspace function. There is no way I will hit the "back" arrow at the top of the window as it takes too much time.

Time for Chrome anyone?

I must say I have been favoring Firefox and Chrome lately because they're industry standard. I look at a lot of pages where i quickly want to go back, and the backspace key is just habit. Why should I break a habit when it's industry standard EXCEPT Apple's os 10.8 browser?
 
I must say I have been favoring Firefox and Chrome lately because they're industry standard. I look at a lot of pages where i quickly want to go back, and the backspace key is just habit. Why should I break a habit when it's industry standard EXCEPT Apple's os 10.8 browser?

Very well said. When I get home tonight I will download Chrome. It's just too bad that such a simple thing has turned me away from Safari.
 
I must say that this really pisses me off as I use a Razer mouse and had a side button that performed the backspace function. There is no way I will hit the "back" arrow at the top of the window as it takes too much time.

Time for Chrome anyone?

I'm sure you can customize the mouse to use cmd+[ for its back button.

Chrome is great but there are a lot of features that only come with Safari, unfortunately.
 
Wow that would be fantastic to get it back. Unfortunately I don't have "NSUserKeyEquivalents" located anywhere in that file. Ideas? Am opening the PLIST wrong?

Have you first added your own shortcut via the system preferences? It seems that the key is only added as soon as a custom shortcut has been added.
 
I rolled back to 5.1.7, MUCH better with its activity monitor and backspace functionality (for moving back through pages). I really don't get the overhype with Safari 6...marginally speedier and that's all.

Alas, this seems to work only on Lion - ML apparently requires Safari 6.

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Hi guys,

I've actually registered in this forum just to post this reply, as I've been absolutely enraged by Apple for changing this feature. Like steve-p said, there's no sense in changing an established cross-plattform standard. In addition, the new cmd+[ shortcut is especially painful for international users such as myself who don't use an english keyboard layout (I actually need to two hands for this shortcut on a german keyboard).

tldr: I did some poking around and found a way to restore the old backspace shortcut. Here's how:

1.) Set an arbitrary shortcut for the command in the System Preferences
2.) Go to ~/Library/Preferences and open the com.apple.Safari.plist file
3.) Find the NSUserKeyEquivalents key.
4.) Replace the shortcut you had previously set by this one: "⌫"
5.) Profit!


Any questions: hit me up on twitter - @jrigerl

What do you mean by "Set an arbitrary shortcut for the command in the System Preferences"?
 
What do you mean by "Set an arbitrary shortcut for the command in the System Preferences"?

Go to System Preferences -> Keyboard Settings -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Application Shortcuts and set a shortcut for Safari -> "Back". You can't use the backspace key there, so just enter something like "cmd+<" (doesn't matter). After that, a key is set in the Safari preferences .plist, which you can then replace by the backspace symbol.
 
I find one mention of "NSUserKeyEquivalents" in the plist file, but cannot find the shortcut that was created. Is it supposed to be next to that string?
 
Isn't the two finger swipe faster than the delete key?
I think keyboard warriors would disagree but at this point it's just a matter of preference. The "Back" function and keyboard shortcut overrides the page animation, so it certainly feels faster.
 
Funny, I've always been annoyed that Backspace was a MANDATORY binding, and will now give Safari a fair shake. I really feel sorry for those users with a hook for their only hand, but pressing two keys to completely discard a web form feels better to me than doing so in one.

I know I should move my business away from websites that are broken enough to not preserve my data moving un-back again, but players like Internal Revenue has a darn near lock on their market.
 
I find one mention of "NSUserKeyEquivalents" in the plist file, but cannot find the shortcut that was created. Is it supposed to be next to that string?

Are you opening the file with a plist editor such as XCode? If so, the shortcut should be a child of the NSUserKeyEquivalents key.

pressing two keys to completely discard a web form feels better to me than doing so in one.

I believe this should at least be up for the users to decide. Having used the backspace key to go back ever since I started using web browsers, it's really not often that I accidentally go back while using a web form.
 
Hi joris,

I also just signed up to reply on this topic.

If so, the shortcut should be a child of the NSUserKeyEquivalents key.

In my .plist there is the NSUserKeyEquivalents Dictionary-element, but it does not have any children although I set up the shortcut (and it works).

Could you tell me/us, what the name of the child-element is?

Thanks + Grüße aus Bonn :)
 
In my .plist there is the NSUserKeyEquivalents Dictionary-element, but it does not have any children although I set up the shortcut (and it works).

Could you tell me/us, what the name of the child-element is?

That'd be "Back", or the respective localized string (in your case maybe "Zurück"). Are you opening it with XCode? Additionally, it may be worth pointing out that I'm still on 10.7, not 10.8, although I don't believe it makes a difference.
 
YAY! My BACK is BACK!!! So excited. Thank you very much to all who contributed to the instructions to BRING BACK D BACK! :)
 
I can kind of see the logic in removing it. Although it's now a standard across browsers and operating systems, it's a horrible keyboard shortcut. If you're typing in a text box, accidentally click out of it, then type delete/backspace -- poof! Everything is gone.

that's happened to me so many times. this is honestly, a welcome change.

Yep, if they do bring it back I'd hope I can disable it. Accidentally hitting delete is just too easy. Commands like this are almost always prefixed by a modifier key for this reason, and cmd bracket OR arrow are very standard across Mac apps.
 
I can appreciate the frustration of those who regularly use the backspace key to go back a page. Personally, however, I'm glad it's not the default (and unchangeable) way of doing things.

Far, far too many times I've had the backspace key send me back, even when my cursor was actively in the text field, with the result that I lost whatever information I had already typed. A previous poster said that will never happen, but it used to happen to me almost every day. We're talking under Jaguar, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion with both Firefox and Safari. As a workaround, I used TextEdit to compose and then copy-pasted into the form/comment box.

Knowing I won't have to do this anymore is kinda nice. Plus, back on Jaguar and Tiger, before I had a multitouch trackpad, I got used to using Command-[ to go back. That said, it would be nice for those who prefer backspace to have the option to use it. But I sincerely hope that it doesn't again become default. and unchangeable.
 
that's happened to me so many times. this is honestly, a welcome change.

I agree with you. I've always hated hitting Backspace and it yanking me out of the page I'm in. It always gets invoked by accident and sometimes you do lose what you were typing in the textbox. I hated it when they put that in there to begin with and I'm glad it's gone.

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My message:

Thank God you finally removed the Backspace/Delete key behavior in Safari 6.0 that would make you go back a page in your browser history when hitting the key outside a text box.

I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally invoked a "back page" command when I meant to erase some text and had somehow click out of the text field before doing so. Most aggravating thing ever and you've fixed it. Thanks!
 
Didn't read all the response.
To go back to previous page I use the 2 finger swipe to the left and to the right will bring you forward. Is that what you're talking about?

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I agree with you. I've always hated hitting Backspace and it yanking me out of the page I'm in. It always gets invoked by accident and sometimes you do lose what you were typing in the textbox. I hated it when they put that in there to begin with and I'm glad it's gone.

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Oh gosh finally someone who understands my pain! I hated that.
 
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