Backspace UX at the Start of a Block

[Noyce-Joel]

When I press backspace at the start of a block that's not a paragraph block, Blocknote is converting the block to a paragraph first. I then have to backspace again to merge with the previous block.

The code is in KeyboardShortcutsExtension.ts:

() =>
commands.command(({ state }) => {
const blockInfo = getBlockInfoFromSelection(state);
if (!blockInfo.isBlockContainer) {
return false;
}

        const selectionAtBlockStart =
          state.selection.from === blockInfo.blockContent.beforePos + 1;
        const isParagraph =
          blockInfo.blockContent.node.type.name === "paragraph";

        if (selectionAtBlockStart && !isParagraph) {
          return commands.command(
            updateBlockCommand(blockInfo.bnBlock.beforePos, {
              type: "paragraph",
              props: {},
            }),
          );
        }

        return false;
      })

I'm wondering whether it would be worth thinking about modifying this ux. I find it breaks my rhythm when editing and causes friction where I have to convert the block back to what it was after backspacing. The conversion feels kind of lossy and the first time it happened I was super confused what I'd done.