this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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238
Why is text selection such a broken mess on so many websites? Why does this have to be such a hassle?? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
56 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Using Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Samsungs 'Internet' app, and every other browser I've used/tried on Android:

I'll go to select some text on a page by long-pressing on it and it'll select the word I'm touching as well as expand that selection to a somewhat random amount of additional text (usually not following any structure such as selecting a whole sentence for example).

I'll then go to adjust that selection by grabbing one of the two tabs on either end of it and the moment I do, the opposite tab jumps to a completely random spot on the page vastly expanding the selection, then the whole page scrolls to an entirely different section; Leaving me holding one end of the selection unable to see what was originally selected. I can't scroll to where I was, and If I let go and just click copy I've now copied 90%of the page to my clipboard.... Attempting to modify the selection any further yields the same lack of control and just makes things worse.

This doesn't happen everywhere, but I get these results far far more often than a successful copy+paste. Like just now trying to copy an address from a local transit guide.

I end up having to drop the paste into a notepad app, reselect the bit I actually wanted (if it even made it into the pile of garbage I was forced to grab) then delete the note once I'm done.

This is fucking stupid and I hate it. Rant over. Thank you for listening.

/edit: I don't have the power to pin a comment, but [email protected] has a great solution: Use the rectangle select tool in androids 'Edge Panel' (must be enabled in settings), then press the 'T' button to copy text from the area you've selected.

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[–] op12 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One thing that might be Pixel-specific is it lets you adjust the selection after the initial copy, prior to pasting it elsewhere. One thing that may be more universal (maybe?) is copying from the recent apps screen (the one that shows when you swipe up partway and see all open apps) uses OCR so you can copy from anything, including apps that have normally blocked that functionality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the other way round: adjusting is pretty universal, copying from recent apps screen is more specific.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Copying from recent apps is Pixel specific, if I remember right?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes. Selecting pasted text is quite more shared among other makers

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have neither option with Samsungs A52.

Could probably screenshot and grab text from the image, but that sounds like even more work than the notepad app method I mentioned.

[–] d3Xt3r 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You can just use the rectangular selection tool from the edge panel, and press the 'T' icon to extract the text. No need to save it as a screenshot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which selection are you talking about?

Tried screenshoting, but the only options there are to tag the image and to edit it (crop, draw, etc), there are no text extraction options.

[–] d3Xt3r 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not in the recents. You need to enable the Edge Panel from the settings first. Then when you're in your app, slide out the edge panel and select the rectangle tool.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You need to enable the Edge Panel from the settings first.

Ah, a rather crucial step. I'd never even heard of the edge panel before, was going off the previous guys response for where to look.

Thank you, that actually works great. It'll be a small issue if whatever I'm copying doesn't all fit on screen, but I can work around that much easier than selecting being entirely broken.

This'll make cropping screenshots faster too.

Cheers!