[SOLVED] Can't select text in web browsers

upnort · 04-18-2015, 07:54 PM

Go to this web page:

Computer Jobs

Select any job listing. Then try selecting any text using normal mouse selection. I am unable to select any text. I have tried this in several web browsers all with the same result, even when using fresh default profiles.

I would appreciate understanding why.

P.S. This is a technical question and not an endorsement for the web site.

astrogeek · 04-18-2015, 08:05 PM

I haven't clicked the link but would guess they have disabled copy paste with javascript, exhibiting the stupidity and uselessness of even simple DRM.

One easy way around it would be to simply view the page source and copy from there - outside javascript jurisdiction. Or turn off javascript and see if the page still loads. Or take a screenshot if you do not need text. Or...

And I will add that endorsement or not, it still looks and functions like a spam link - especially as you have linked two major keywords instead of simply pasting the link URL. It would be more appropriate to write it out like thewebsite-dot-com instead of linked text. That way interested humans can get there without feeding the search engines a high value link from LQ.

frankbell · 04-18-2015, 08:39 PM

I was unable to duplicate the problem using Seamonkey v 2.32.1 on Slackware --Current.

I was able to highlight text with the mouse, right-click and copy it, then paste it into a text editor with scripts disabled via NoScript and with scripts enabled.

ondoho · 04-19-2015, 05:43 AM

interesting.
i _can_ reproduce the problem, with noscript activated or not.
however, i can also look at the page source and see nothing special. i can also select the text in question from there, it's just a normal <p>...</p>.

firefox 37.0.1

veerain · 04-19-2015, 06:29 AM

In midori also I can't copy it. But the page loads in lynx browser fine and can copy it.

DavidMcCann · 04-19-2015, 11:02 AM

In Opera, I can select anything. In Firefox, I can select anything except words in links.

upnort · 04-19-2015, 11:28 AM

Thanks for the responses. I can select text only in Trinity Konqueror and Opera 12.16. Those browsers are old and I don't offer much credence to the results. My testing was with everything both disabled and then enabled: Java, JavaScript, cookies, referrer headers, etc. Firefox, with or without add-ons fails, as do KDE Konqueror, Seamonkey, Midori, Qupzilla, and Epiphany. Different distros too. New fresh profiles makes no difference. Frustrating.

astrogeek · 04-19-2015, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upnort

Frustrating.

Yes, these kinds of stupid web design features only frustrate and inconvenience normal users.

You should write the webmaster and let them know this, "Your website is frustrating for ordinary use because of this stupid feature...".

+++++

Update: I followed the link and find that I can select, copy and paste normally in Firefox 31.4 at this time. The only add-on is uBlock but it seems to make no difference. Maybe we are beta-testers...?

upnort · 04-19-2015, 01:46 PM

Quote:

You should write the webmaster...

At the moment I am more interested in why this happens. Especially now that some folks have shared they do not have the problem. There has to be a technical reason. Thus far all of my trial and error attempts have failed to expose why this happens.

ondoho · 04-19-2015, 03:59 PM

i also have tried with dwb (webkit browser) and it's the same.
the strangest thing is that it also happens when javascript is disabled. what else could be causing this?
in the source, i saw nothing that could explain this.

astrogeek · 04-19-2015, 04:21 PM

Suggestion: Are you actually certain it is NOT selecting the text?

Could it be a stylesheet that defines selected same as unselected so that it is simply not visibly hilighted when selected making you think it is not selected?

That would account for non-javascript being the same and some differences in browsers depending on user style settings. Since I do not see the effect I will defer to others to test that hypothesis.

Test by selecting, even though not hilighted, right click copy and paste into text editor - see if it copies.

+++++ Another thought...

It might also be that the site is serving different content/scripts to different users based on some criteria known only to them... if you could compare the source of one that works with one that doesn't you might see something of interest.

upnort · 04-19-2015, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Are you actually certain it is NOT selecting the text?

Yes, been there done that.

Additionally, the clipboard manager confirms nothing is copied.

astrogeek · 04-19-2015, 06:02 PM

(Post modified to remove referenced link, look it up, and include the referenced text inline...)

Here is what one dimwitted, IMO, blogging site webmaster thinks about it...

Quote:

Blah, blah... it is important to protect your blog content from these content
thieves and this is the agenda of this post. We will disable the copy function by
disabling the mouse right click and CTRL+A. We have two options of doing this i.e.,
via a JavaScript Code if you want to disable whole text area of blog or via CSS code
if you share some codes/text in your blog posts and your readers need to copy them.

Then the javascript and CSS examples, here is the CSS only...

Code:

/*----- Disable Text Selection with CSS Code--- TB----*/
body {
-webkit-user-select: none;
-moz-user-select: -moz-none;
-ms-user-select: none;
user-select: none;
}

Quote:

Benefit of using CSS Code rather than JavaScript ?
1) When we use JavaScript code, do you know what does a copy cat do? Simply disables
JavaScript code inside browser and reload the page. Then everything goes into normal
and anyone can copy the whole content. Using CSS code we eliminate this factor as
user can not disable CSS. However, an experienced user can do it simply by
inspecting elements and finding our CSS code snippet then delete it in browser but
this task is far away from newbies. Experienced users rarely do that.

2) CSS codes are far better than JavaScripts as they do not lower the speed of your
blog/website where JavaScript codes consume much time to load and make your blog
load speed very low and overall you lose Visitors=Money. Avoid using JavaScripts.
Let us know where these codes worked for you or you are having problems with these
codes? We will serve you our best. Thank You.

... whatever...

I do not see where such a style is being introduced in your url, but I also am not seeing the effect in my Firefox, so again, they may be using browser detection and sending different style-sheets to different clients.

If you are seeing it in a recent Firefox, use the Tools >> Web Developer >> Inspector to see what styles are being applied to a non-selectable area. My guess is that you will see something like the example above. If so, then we just need to figure out how it is being generated.

upnort · 04-19-2015, 07:08 PM

Looks like we are on the same page.

I found a similar discussion.

I saved one of the web pages and then looked at the html. I saw the following:

Code:

<style>
* {
    -webkit-user-select: none;
    -khtml-user-select: none;
    -moz-user-select: -moz-none;
    -o-user-select: none;
    user-select: none;
}

a {
    -webkit-user-select: text;
    -khtml-user-select: text;
    -moz-user-select: text;
    -o-user-select: text;
    user-select: text;
}
</style>

Deleting the first snippet and refreshing the page resulted in me being able to select text.

I tested the same process in some other web browsers and had the same happy result.

I then added the following to my Firefox profile userContent.css:

Code:

@-moz-document domain(roadtechs.com) {

* {
  -webkit-user-select: text !important;
  -khtml-user-select: text !important;
  -moz-user-select: text !important;
  -o-user-select: text !important;
  user-select: text !important;
}

}

I now can select text in the web site.

I have no idea why people want to prevent selecting text.

Especially when anybody can open the source code and copy from there, albeit a nuisance.

Thanks for the help everybody.

astrogeek · 04-19-2015, 07:27 PM

Glad to hear that was it - I had no other ideas if it were not!

It almost had to be CSS as it worked in some browsers with js disabled, although I had not seen it done that way before. But a quick web search found lots of examples.

I want to say that I can see why people do such stupid things, but really I cannot see it.

You write it, you publish it, you put it on the web, you compete for search engine placement, you want lots and lots of eyeballs on it and links to it and referrals from previous visitors, and traffic... But then you put stumbling blocks and hobbles in their path and frustrate them and try to take away the common, ordinary, every-day usefulness of the page content in their browser!

And all so that you can feel self satisfied that it is mine, mine, mine, all mine!

It is beyond stupid, it is a symptom of something much worse.

Anyway, glad you got it figured out!