For instance I have a friend who frantically selects and reselects small portions of the text the whole time. I on the other hand just highlight a line and hold shift then down arrow at the end of each line I know exactly which line is next to be read.
Poll: Do you select text while reading?
191–200 of 366 posts
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would I want to drag text on a web page I drag selected text to between tabs to create a new tab with a Google search for that text. I do that a lot.
Do you know about the "Search Google for '%query%'" in the right-click menu?
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#193Now I'm a self-confessed habitual selector I feel compelled to say that in no way, shape or form do I select text like some kind of nervous tic. I rarely select text when reading HN comments for example, they're mostly short enough so I'm not going to have to scroll or have time to get pulled on to something else before finishing.
I voted for reading position because that's the one I use it for most.
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, the New York Times was the worst. In a similar vein, snopes.com also forbids selecting on the page. And when they "fixed" Chrome so that clicking and dragging from within a selection dragged the selection instead of starting a new selection, I died a little inside. Why would I want to drag text on a web page? I guess random clicking and selecting is no more of a useful use case, but I still find myself messing t…
Why would I want to drag text on a web page I drag selected text to between tabs to create a new tab with a Google search for that text. I do that a lot.
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#195Used to. Since using a touchpad I am no longer doing it.
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#196For a long time the New York Times had a javascript thing that would pop up a dictionary reference for anything you double clicked on. As someone who compulsively doubleclicks to highlight and unhighlight, it bugged the hell out of me.
This made me think about how he demo'd our windows app, I had to also test double, tripple clicks, double click + drag etc. So I added a feature that on the 'About this product' page added the clicks and double clicks. When it reached over 100 I displayed an animated bunch of flowers.
Many months later I get a phone call from the sales guy, "Hey, monk.e.boy, I'm rehursing a demo and some flowers are showing." I was like, Jeeeesus, 100 double clicks on the most obscure page of our app?! WTF are you doing!
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#197When people see that I highlight text while I'm reading, they always want to know what practical reason it serves. The simplest answer is that it kind of helps me track the text, but it's less than that. It also isn't quite just a nervous habit. The only description that makes sense to me is that it feels like a physical connection to the page. More like spinning a pen, or rolling an object in your hand while you thi…
Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#198Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#199Re: Poll: Do you select text while reading?
#200When people see that I highlight text while I'm reading, they always want to know what practical reason it serves. The simplest answer is that it kind of helps me track the text, but it's less than that. It also isn't quite just a nervous habit. The only description that makes sense to me is that it feels like a physical connection to the page. More like spinning a pen, or rolling an object in your hand while you thi…
Good call. Like how I used to drag highlight boxes on the desktop when I was thinking of what to do next. I never wanted to select anything, I just liked to do it.