disable refresh / back / forward in OWN browser

Question

Is there a way to only make my OWN browser (Chrome) not be able to go back / forward / refresh?

This happens rather often that when Im developing and playing around in devtools (Changing HTML and CSS just to try things out) I sometimes accidentally swipe back or out of habit hit refresh. I would like to be able to disable the back or forward button via some sort of extension?

I am NOT trying to disable the button on any live-website, just for me locally. Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you want to prevent accidental navigations, there's no need to install any extension. Just open the console, and run the following code:

window.onbeforeunload = function() {
    return 'Want to unload?';
};

With this code, you will get a confirmation prompt.

---

If you really want to prevent the page from unloading via an extension, use the technique described in the answers to How to cancel webRequest silently in chrome extension.

Here's a minimal demo extension that adds a button to your browser. Upon click, you cannot navigate to a different page any more. You can still close the tab without any warning, though:

// background.js
chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
    chrome.webRequest.onBeforeRequest.addListener(function(details) {
        var scheme = /^https/.test(details.url) ? 'https' : 'http';
        return { redirectUrl: scheme + '://robwu.nl/204' };
        // Or (seems to work now, but future support not guaranteed):
        // return { redirectUrl: 'javascript:' };
    }, {
        urls: ['*://*/*'],
        types: ['main_frame'],
        tabId: tab.id
    }, ['blocking']);
});

manifest.json for this extension:

{
    "name": "Never unload the current page any more!",
    "version": "1",
    "manifest_version": 2,
    "background": {
        "scripts": ["background.js"],
        "persistent": true
    },
    "browser_action": {
        "default_title": ""
    },
    "permissions": [
        "<all_urls>",
        "webRequest",
        "webRequestBlocking"
    ]
}