The Chrome OS development team has been in an uproar recently to eliminate all Alt shortcuts on your Chromebook keyboard. Instead, they are really trying to make the ‘Launcher’ button – now called the ‘All button’ – capable of everything. Not only can it search for files on your local storage and in the cloud, it can also find your installed apps and more. Now, it’s going to be the end of it all for the shortcut buttons.
Last week, Google laid the groundwork for removing the Alt button from the text deletion shortcut. Now, instead of pressing Alt + Backspace, you’ll need to press Search + backspace to remove the text to the right of the cursor. Today, I found a new Chrome flag that aims to remove the Alt key from the shortcut to right-click! Currently, your device can right-click without the right mouse button if you hold alt and left-click. However, for those who use a touchpad and prefer to click on it instead of tapping with two fingers to perform a right-click or for those who have an interrupted right-click on their external mouse, the ability to click with the right button while holding down a The key on the keyboard in conjunction with the standard left click of a mouse or touchpad is a godsend.
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The flag chrome: // flags / # use-search-click-for-click-right-click it seems to be shifting entirely to another purpose. Instead of just being Search + click for accessibility, Google seems to be concerned with how applications and websites need Alt and the left mouse button simultaneously. I can’t think of a single instance where this would occur in my existing workflow, but the description of the flag states that this ‘will allow web pages and applications to consume alt + click’. Okay then, cool.
Use Search + Click to right click
When enabled, the search + click will be remapped to the right click, allowing web pages and applications to consume alt + click. When disabled, the legacy Alt + click to right-click remap behavior will remain unchanged. – Chrome OS
# use-search-click-for-right-clock
If you ask me, Google just wants to get the ‘All button’ to do, well, everything just for marketing and simplicity, and I can’t blame them. I mean, this is even more cemented due to the fact that the Alt + click capability is not going away – yet. Remember that pressing the key itself starts a Google Search, stating that the Chromebook’s ‘Everything’ button does ‘Everything, including Google Search’ literally translates to ‘Google does everything and is a tap away’, that is smart.
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Truth be told, I’ve always seen it coming, but I don’t think they would move so quickly to uproot existing hotkey combinations. People have been using them for years, especially after passing more than 20 years of Windows or macOS, where these shortcuts are now second nature. What do you think of these changes and the idea of making the ‘Everything’ button do everything? Sound off in the comments!
