Google lens is a god send for this
Just let me select text
41–50 of 621 posts
Re: Just let me select text
#42[deleted]
Re: Just let me select text
#43As 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…
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.
Re: Just let me select text
#44And that without counting memes and other graphic version of some text, some even sent by mail, or image captures or whatever of long and sometime critical pieces of text (i.e. certificates).
It was something not specific of mobile apps, it was something present on internet for some decades (specially when bandwidth or mailbox sizes didn't added enough to be a concern to send something as image instead of text).
But in this particular moment of history, we have AIs that can extract the text from an image, do the translation and maybe write an answer about what is there. Or be a new attack vector against AI agents.
Re: Just let me select text
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally not, those ahould be selectable too.
When text becomes selected, instead of allowing the control to work as expected, the focus cannot move between the elements as expected. It breaks the UX for keyboard-only users. I can appreciate that this is not something everyone has to contend with, but for accessibility's sake, the default behavior should at the very least be mitigated. So you're advocating for either hurting the keyboard experience or injecting…
I personally like to click text absent mindedly when I'm reading a bit like holding your finger while reading
Also if you're a non native speaker you want to be able to select the text so you can translate it
Re: Just let me select text
#46why do you think the German girl wants you to translate her profile?
That was not implied by the post.
Re: Just let me select text
#47Ive asked this before with no answer:
A browser (say, Firefox) is a "User Agent". Agents are supposed to act on our behalf, and in our best interests when ambiguities are present.
So, why are OUR user agents acting on behalf of website operators and their admins and users, and not on our behalf?
Having CSS that prevents usability shouldn't be implemented. Or it should be an easy toggle to turn on/off, without having to resort to Ublock Origin filters.
Same with 'prevention of right-click'. Why is this even implemented?
Or JavaScript also has a lot of onerous calls that are anti-user. I can understand why some of them are needed, but again, should be trivial to toggle.
So, why aren't our agents acting like proper agents?
Re: Just let me select text
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
When text becomes selected, instead of allowing the control to work as expected, the focus cannot move between the elements as expected. It breaks the UX for keyboard-only users. I can appreciate that this is not something everyone has to contend with, but for accessibility's sake, the default behavior should at the very least be mitigated. So you're advocating for either hurting the keyboard experience or injecting…
This breaks translation. Text must be selectable.
Good UX means including translations for supported languages, not telling the user "do it yourself by highlighting content".
Not translating entire articles to a language you don't support has the easy remedy of letting people select the text and use third party tools to support their specific use-cases. But not including translations for your clickable content for languages that aren't supported are the literal practical limits of ability. I would rather my apps work for people in languages I do support, with full accessibility (and minimal scripting overhead), than to have them work poorly for keyboard-only users in all languages, regardless of my app's support for them.
Again, we're talking about the stuff that should be iconic. Things that can literally be represented by icons. Buttons and tab headings. Things that you shouldn't actually need translated AT ALL, much less into every single language there is.
Re: Just let me select text
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally not, those ahould be selectable too.
When text becomes selected, instead of allowing the control to work as expected, the focus cannot move between the elements as expected. It breaks the UX for keyboard-only users. I can appreciate that this is not something everyone has to contend with, but for accessibility's sake, the default behavior should at the very least be mitigated. So you're advocating for either hurting the keyboard experience or injecting…
What's that behavior?
Do you have an example of a website where selectable text makes keyboard navigation not possible? Could this be a browser problem?
I can tab between links here in HN and it's perfectly also selectable.
Re: Just let me select text
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
When text becomes selected, instead of allowing the control to work as expected, the focus cannot move between the elements as expected. It breaks the UX for keyboard-only users. I can appreciate that this is not something everyone has to contend with, but for accessibility's sake, the default behavior should at the very least be mitigated. So you're advocating for either hurting the keyboard experience or injecting…
This breaks translation. Text must be selectable.
What would be your ideal solution to the described problem? (Clicking on UI elements selecting text instead of processing the click)