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Thanks again, Colonel.Colonel O'Neill wrote:They're Browser Back and Forward keys.
Work as they're advertised in Explorer and browser windows.
Useful for rebinding; I have Right Ctrl + Back/Forward bound to switch between multiple desktops with Dexpot.
nikki605 wrote:I use them a lot to page back or forward in my web browser. For me it's faster than moving the cursor all the way to the upper left corner of the browser window for the back & forward arrow buttons.
Yeah...I dunno...While I almost never use the keys, they seem to me to be a use for otherwise empty space. Before ThinkPads started having these page forward/back keys, there was nothing in that space. Just blank....so something is better than nothing...right?Wombat Pete wrote:What an odd way to waste space in an otherwise brilliantly designed keyboard layout.
A single key press is faster/easier than a simultaneous combo key press Alt+← or Alt+→. At least it is for me. I've just gotten used to them being there. I can quickly move just my right hand from either the TouchPad or the TrackPoint to that area of the keyboard.Wombat Pete wrote:
Nikki, why wouldn't you just use cntl or alt (depending on the comp) and the right & left arrows?
I can vouch that in Linux - at least Kubuntu 10.10 - they work correctly on their own, moving backwards and forwards through browser history without any need to setup or configure anything.Colonel O'Neill wrote:They're Browser Back and Forward keys.
Work as they're advertised in Explorer and browser windows.
Since i found this to be superfluous functionality, i remapped it to PgUp/PgDn instead. This saves me from reaching up to the upper left corner of the keyboard for whole page scrolling in any program. Here is how:lparsons wrote:If I was yearning to do so, I could of course reconfigure them for something else, but this works well for me.
Code: Select all
$ cat $HOME/.xmodmap
! note: the exclamation mark in front of a line marks it as a comment.
! uncomment the wanted entry according to your personal preference:
!
! mapping PgUp/PgDn to XF86Back/XF86Forward:
keycode 166 = Prior
keycode 167 = Next
!
! making XF86Back/XF86Forward duplicates of Left/Right keys:
!keycode 166 = Left
!keycode 167 = RightCode: Select all
#
# define some custom keys
#
if [ -f $HOME/.xmodmap ] && [ "$DISPLAY" != "" ] ; then
/usr/bin/xmodmap $HOME/.xmodmap
fi
That used to happen to me so then I would right click, "Select all", "Copy" so at least I would have my work preserved on the Clip Board if I hit that Left Browser Back button (mistaking it for Backspace or Left arrow which I used to do a lot). I started doing that in the midst of a long email composition or long posts like this one. Now I realize that if you accidentally hit the Left Browser button and just immediately hit the Right Browser Forward your work will still be there in most cases. At least that works on the Forum here! That don't (I'm using bad English on purpose coz I'm angry!) work during Ebay message composition- if you hit that Left Browser Back button by accident then realize, OOPS!, and immediately try to hit the Right Browser Forward to recover your work- it will have vanished into thin air! They delete it (probably for some weirdo, anti-SPAM, security reason). BTW (off topic), do you notice how difficult they (Ebay geniuses) make it for you to ask a seller a question nowadays? You have to enter an annoying verification code each time. They assume everyone's a spammer with time to waste.rkawakami wrote:Some people complain about those keys because in some cases, if they press them by accident, making the browser page forward or backward, they lose whatever information that's been typed in.
They are a great time saver flipping back and forth through browser windows. I think long Microsoft Word documents or Adobe PDF documents should make use of those buttons somehow (if they don't already) but I guess they already have Page up and Page Down. And more websites (such as EBay) should be considerate enough to preserve your work in case you press that Left Browser Back button in the middle of composing a message. Sometimes you want to be able to go back to a previous page in your browser, check some piece of information, then come back and finish your message (without opening a new tab or window). Why do they delete your message! Didn't they ever think about that? Can't they be more considerate of people's needs?Regrettably, i don't know Windows well enough to answer this question the way you asked for. But in case you would like to try an external program, i can heartily recommend http://allchars.zwolnet.com, which i used at work to add on the keyboard features to Windows which i was missing from Linux. Maybe it is also possible to remap your keyboard with this nice free tool in the way you intend it?SchlageR wrote:Please excuse my question, but is it possible to replace the browser key function in order to Cycle back and forth through programs in the taskbar with aero instead of webpages? Similar to Ctrl+Windows logo key+Tab>arrow key, preferably without the need of a program?
).