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Just let me select text

aartaka.me

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Re: Just let me select text

#561

Post by johnisgood »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #369
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.

It's not just about translations, either. Sometimes you want to document or describe to someone where something is on a site. "Click on FooBar, then in the popup saying > check the > checkbox and click OK. It's much less frustrating when you can copy-paste the damned labels straight off the site/app, than retyping them and hoping you didn't misspell FooBar as FooBaz, leading the other person into deeper trouble rathe…

I actually opened the browser's Developer Tools and used the Elements panel to copy text from the button elements. Many times.

Re: Just let me select text

#563

Post by silverliver »

3036e4 wrote: post #52

Teams refused to let me copy text from the real-time captions, even showing a popup to say it wasn't allowed. But after the meeting in the posted transcript I could copy the same text anyway so not sure why it was so important to prevent me from copying immediately. Very annoying since I wanted that text right then and not later.

Don't modern screenshot apps allow for selecting text? just take a video and select away.

Re: Just let me select text

#565

Post by johanyc »

Dilettante_ wrote: post #198
johanyc wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a bookmarklet just to deal with this kind of websites lol

Would you share perhaps?

```

javascript:(function()%7B%0A%20%20function%20R(a)%7B%0A%20%20%20%20var%20ona=%22on%22+a;%0A%20%20%20%20if(window.addEventListener)%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20window.addEventListener(a,function(e)%7B%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20for(var%20n=e.originalTarget%7C%7Ce.target;n;n=n.parentNode)%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20n%5Bona%5D=null;%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%7D,true);%0A%20%20%20%20window%5Bona%5D=null;%0A%20%20%20%20document%5Bona%5D=null;%0A%20%20%20%20if(document.body)document.body%5Bona%5D=null;%0A%20%20%7D%0A%20%20R(%22contextmenu%22);%0A%20%20R(%22click%22);%0A%20%20R(%22mousedown%22);%0A%20%20R(%22mouseup%22);%0A%20%20R(%22selectstart%22);%0A%20%20//%20Remove%20CSS%20user-select%20restrictions%0A%20%20var%20style=document.createElement('style');%0A%20%20style.innerHTML='*%7Buser-select:auto%20!important;-webkit-user-select:auto%20!important;-moz-user-select:auto%20!important;-ms-user-select:auto%20!important;%7D';%0A%20%20document.head.appendChild(style);%0A%7D)();

```

This enables text selection and right clicking.

Re: Just let me select text

#566

Post by pjc50 »

bart7782 wrote: post #554
crossroadsguy wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blocking screenshots for certain apps has been like "someone drowned in a lake -> block access to the lake". The only thing it helps in is helping banks close the tickets when you inform them of a bug and they ask for screenshots and you tell them you can't because their app doesn't allow it, so "… closing this ticket since we received no further input from the customer. Please feel free to reply if you need anything…

Blocking screenshots also blocks screen recording and screen sharing. Which actually helps to increase security. As someone with remote access to your phone will not be able to use banking apps. You can only see them when holding the device physically.

It's another case of "I am the legitimate owner of this phone and authenticated into this app, and yet you still want to block me from using it?" modern problem.

Re: Just let me select text

#567

Post by pjc50 »

cosmojg wrote: post #225

I must admit, one of my favorite recent-ish Android[1] features is that all text is made selectable in the app switcher using on-device OCR. Regardless of the app[2], you can just swipe up and start selecting text. [1] ...at least on the Google Pixel. [2] ...unless it's a banking app and it blocks permissions for screenshots and similar things.

This is also my new favorite Android feature. It also enables translation. It even works for non-left-to-right languages, e.g. vertically written Japanese. The only downside is its tendency to immediately search for whatever you've selected, dumping all sorts of nonsense into my search history.

I do like when an accessibility feature is a hammer one can use against web designers who've disabled other features. The next one I want is "zoom non-zoomable web pages and apps".

Re: Just let me select text

#568

Post by xnx »

bonoboTP wrote: post #493
indymike wrote: post #306

I get a kick out of it when a product manager comes suggesting we diable text selection. "oh, you want to disable the single most usable and powerful interoperability feature in our product?" "Yeah. Do we really want people leaving our app with their data?" By leaving, do you mean kicking it off the phone or switching to another app and getting something done? "Oh, yeah, they are just getting something done. But not…

Disabling right click was one of the most common requests from site owners to webmasters back around 2000. They mostly wanted to prevent "Save as..." on the images, but copying article text out was also part of it.

Also opening all external links in a new window.

Re: Just let me select text

#569

Post by pjc50 »

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #114
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'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.

Most buttons do not require double-click. In fact, it's only Explorer and related things which have single click select, double click action, isn't it?

At one point round about Win98 Windows took inspiration in the other direction, with Active Desktop: you could change a setting and have single-click to action in Explorer.

Re: Just let me select text

#570

Post by fkyoureadthedoc »

kobebrookskC3 wrote: post #530
fkyoureadthedoc wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good thing it can take a screenshot then

not if the app blocks screenshots

The app in this discussion is the internet browser, which does not. You guys are reaching so far that you've fallen off the chair at this point.
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