Google Chrome Browser Could Soon Thwart Annoying Sites That Block Back Button

With Google's Chrome web browser being the most popular browser out there right now, new features for the browser are something that many web surfers look forward to. Google is reportedly working on a new feature that will stop one nefarious tactic websites use to keep you from leaving their site. Specifically, a new version of Chrome will stop websites from preventing the back button from working.

Google calls the act of breaking the back button "history manipulation." The first hints that Google was working to stop this sort of manipulation came from code spotted inside the Chromium project; this is the core code that the Chrome browser is based upon. This code suggested that the Chrome feature will prevent sites you visit from adding items to the back and forward list without the user intending for that action to happen.

When this action does happen, the browser would flag the pages and send metrics to Google for closer scrutiny. Perhaps with Chrome identifying these nefarious websites, Google will hand down search listing penalties. Eventually, Chrome will be able to prevent entries from being entered into the back/forward list to ensure that the browser functions as the user expects. One location in the Chromium code mentioning the new feature reads, "Entries that are added to the back/forward list without the user’s intention are marked to be skipped on subsequent back button invocations."

The code spied that calls for intervention when Chrome flags a site for abuse of this sort reads, "Implements history manipulation intervention behind a flag and based on the should_skip_on_back_forward_ui field added earlier." Word on the street is that the first time this new feature will go live in a Chrome browser will be with Chrome Canary. The Chrome Canary browser is also supposed to get a feature called "lazy loading" for faster page rendering. Microsoft recently announced it would adopt Chromium for its rendering engine on the Edge browser, something that upset Mozilla and had it warning of a Google monopoly.