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Just let me select text

aartaka.me

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Re: Just let me select text

#131

Post by catapart »

Ukv wrote: post #86
catapart wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use a mouse to click inside of a word link (like "threads") in the HN header. Try to drag to highlight. Note that the link tries to drag instead of highlighting. This is default behavior for anchors because of the issues that it would otherwise cause with the whole selection API. Alternatively, set your cursor at the end of the header in the empty space, and drag your mouse backward to highlight the items. At that po…

> Use a mouse to click inside of a word link (like "threads") in the HN header. Try to drag to highlight. Note that the link tries to drag instead of highlighting. This is default behavior for anchors because of the issues that it would otherwise cause with the whole selection API. You can drag slightly above/below to select it, or use shift + arrow keys. I personally use a plugin[0] to allow dragging within the text…

I made myself clear to the other development professionals I was talking to as evidenced by their feedback.

The people who seem to have the most trouble understanding what I'm advocating for are the people who seem to only be taking a user-centric approach to the situation, rather than grappling with the practicalities of the web environment.

At this point, I'm over trying to make anyone understand anything. They'll either get it, when it is relevant for them to get it, or they won't and it won't matter to me or anyone else at all.

In a year, we might have better web functionality or a new built-in browser or OS feature, or any number of other things that could mitigate this specific gripe, so I'm not super concerned about any of it. Those that understand what I'm saying will have better UX for heeding the advice with appropriate exception. And those that don't won't make UX worth using. No worries either way!

Re: Just let me select text

#132

Post by myfonj »

catapart wrote: post #53
whstl wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% disagree. Not everyone is fluent in every language, and not every website works perfectly with the browser's translator. There will be situations where people will want to translate that ONE word that is actually in a button or tab, and isn't selectable because someone thought they knew better.

isn't selectable because it breaks the UX for keyboard-only users. Has nothing to do with "thinking" anything. It's about testing with accessibility parameters and knowing* what practical problems occur. If you really need to translate ONE WORD, it's not that onerous to type it. You're bringing edge-case hypotheticals to a discussion about practical functionality.

> If you really need to translate ONE WORD, it's not that onerous to type it.

I'm confident that I can type just a tiny fraction of all Latin characters all world languages use. I'm sure that pretty much any Vietnamese word is way beyond my keyboard layout. No clue about writing any non-Latin script. Can you type any Cyrillic, Kanji, Hebrew, Abjad, …, character you see?

Re: Just let me select text

#134

Post by ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 »

whstl wrote: post #54
catapart wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

isn't selectable because it breaks the UX for keyboard-only users. Has nothing to do with "thinking" anything. It's about testing with accessibility parameters and knowing* what practical problems occur. If you really need to translate ONE WORD, it's not that onerous to type it. You're bringing edge-case hypotheticals to a discussion about practical functionality.

I already asked below, how and where does it break? Hacker News is fully selectable, and still fully useable with the keyboard. > it's not that onerous to type it. Yes it is, if I don't even know what the letters are. Not every country uses the latin alphabet. And not every people coming to latin-alphabet countries know what those letters are.

Hacker news isn't "fully selectable". Just try to highlight the text in the reply/update/submit buttons.

Re: Just let me select text

#135

Post by Ukv »

catapart wrote: post #85
Ghoelian wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would you want to translate "My Account" into another language? When you don't know the language or what "My Account" means? Not everyone speaks English.

And you also can't understand the icon? And the context? And the translations I provided?

A menu with "我的帳戶" in it, and often a generic icon or no icon at all, doesn't really have sufficient context to determine what the button means. If the website is already translated into your language then great, but many websites aren't (because it's a small site, or you don't speak one of the most common languages, or it's aimed at a different audience, etc.)

Re: Just let me select text

#136

Post by whstl »

catapart wrote: post #133
whstl wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are the one saying it breaks keyboard usage, and still haven't given an example of why and how.

[flagged]

You can do better than doing personal attacks.

The article is not advocating for breaking anything.

And unlike me you haven't provided a single example so far, only workarounds for people who don't like your suggestions.

Re: Just let me select text

#137

Post by gdwatson »

sbuttgereit wrote: post #109
catapart wrote: post #21

As a web dev, I fully agree with this, but with a huge exception: clickable text. Anything that is meant to be read as content should absolutely, without fail, be selectable and copyable (assuming appropriate permissions). But stuff like tab headers, buttons, or even text-sparse tiles - things meant for the user to click on - can, and usually should , prevent text selection. It is super annoying to be clicking back a…

A case can be made for graphic like elements like buttons, but for text: treat it like text even if it's clickable. In the Web version of Outlook, there are regularly times where the location of an appointment is a street address. That text is typically clickable. But the click action doesn't correspond to the choice of mapping service I might want to use in any one instance or to the fact that I might have other act…

The point isn't that the developer should disable text selection whenever he thinks it's unnecessary, which would indeed be silly. It's that sometimes the user interface rules for navigating selectable text conflict or interfere with the user interface rules for navigating, say, a set of tab panes. In that situation, making the tab titles selectable will cause grief.

I agree with your address example. That is user data, and it should be selectable.

Re: Just let me select text

#138

Post by dylan604 »

catapart wrote: post #122
bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always bothered me that links on webpages are single click to open. They should require double clicking to open (like just about everything else on a computer) and single click should be used to start selecting text, like everywhere else on a computer.

You know, I've often wondered how much simpler UX would be if this had been the case from the start. Hard to make any predictions, but one can optimistically dream...

I'm guessing it would be much more disruptive for touch devices. It would definitely reduce the number of erroneous clicks when just trying to touch to scroll the screen.

Re: Just let me select text

#139

Post by reaperducer »

catapart wrote: post #21

As a web dev, I fully agree with this, but with a huge exception: clickable text. Anything that is meant to be read as content should absolutely, without fail, be selectable and copyable (assuming appropriate permissions). But stuff like tab headers, buttons, or even text-sparse tiles - things meant for the user to click on - can, and usually should , prevent text selection. It is super annoying to be clicking back a…

It is super annoying to be clicking back and forth through tabs only to have some text erroneously highlight and then stay that way.

It's more annoying when your web site won't let me copy a package tracking number to paste into my chosen package tracking program. Maybe I don't want to use your system. Maybe the program I have is better.

Just because a web dev can't think of any reasons someone would want to copy text doesn't mean the reasons don't exist. It just means the developer lacks imagination.

Re: Just let me select text

#140

Post by dylan604 »

ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 wrote: post #134
whstl wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already asked below, how and where does it break? Hacker News is fully selectable, and still fully useable with the keyboard. > it's not that onerous to type it. Yes it is, if I don't even know what the letters are. Not every country uses the latin alphabet. And not every people coming to latin-alphabet countries know what those letters are.

Hacker news isn't "fully selectable". Just try to highlight the text in the reply/update/submit buttons.

I can select the word "Reply" with no issues
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