I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
the start of what is to be copied.

Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
highlighted.

This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.

Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?

Thanks.

On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 17:25:13 -0500, swalker wrote:
>
> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
> the start of what is to be copied.
>
> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
> highlighted.
>
> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?

I've observed the same phenomenon. And it can be even worse:
Sometimes when I'm trying to copy just a header, the entire page is
suddenly highlighted. As far as I can tell, it has to do with HTML
markup that makes an indivisible unit out of whatever you're trying
to copy part of.

I expect the same thing will happen with other browsers.

As for changing the behavior, I don't believe this is some "mode"
that you can change. FWIW, sometimes I find that if I highlight in
the opposite direction (from left to right instead of right to left,
or vice versa) that I can select just what I want to. But not always.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
https://OakRoadSystems.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On 9/21/2021 3:25 PM, swalker wrote:
>
> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
> the start of what is to be copied.
>
> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
> highlighted.
>
> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>
> Thanks.
>

Try disabling JavaScript before marking the text you want.

Alternatively, try disabling CSS. In that case, you must then search
for the text you want.

--
David E. Ross
"A Message to Those Who Are Not Vaccinated"
See my <http://www.rossde.com/index#vaccine>.

swalker <sw@newsguy.com> wrote:

> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
> the start of what is to be copied.
>
> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
> highlighted.
>
> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>
> Thanks.

You are copying HTML, not just plain text. You don't get to see the
HTML formatting tags; else, it would look like a jumbled mess of HTML
tags (which is text) with the text you do see. If your selection
includes, say, the paragraph marker then you select the paragraph.
Unless you look at the raw source of the web doc, you don't know what
you are selecting.

Instead of dragging with the mouse, double-click on the last word that
you want to include. The double-click will select the word, not any
punctuation following the word. Then position the mouse to the middle
of the first character on the string where you want the selection to
start, and Shift+click. Everything from the last word you selected to
the character you clicked on gets selected. Then use Ctrl+C to copy the
selected text.

The above might work, but it might not. Text isn't always continuous.
What you select as text could still include HTML code, so what you end
up pasting would also contain the HTML code. For example, the text you
want to copy might be delineated by <center>text</center>, or uses CSS
styling tags, so you end up copying that, too. Whether or not those
show as text, or the copied text gets centered, depends on whether or
not the target app into which you paste also supports HTML. You didn't
identify the target app into which you want to paste what you copied
from a web browser.

To eliminate including any HTML code in what you select, you could use a
tool that makes sure just the plain text gets copied into the clipboard,
like PureText. You make the selection of whatever you see, you hit
Ctrl+C to save into the clipboard, and use PureText's hotkey to paste
plain text into whatever is the currently selected app's window, like
pasting into Notepad. I defined PureText's Paste hotkey as Ctrl+Shift+V
(so, I added Shift to the Ctrl+V hotkey).

If you want to keep click+dragging to select text, you have to end the
drag on something less than the end of the string you want to copy.
Since click+drag selects on word boundaries, you'll have to end your
selection at the prior word to where the paragraph tag would get
included, and they you'll have to add the last word in the paste
operation.

Some clipboard managers have a similar feature. When you copy something
into the clipboard, a copy gets saved into the clipboard manager. In
the clipboard manager, you can whether you want to see the text, HTML,
or binary version of the clip. Whichever you select to view is what
gets pasted on Ctrl+V. I use Clipmate for many years (not free, $35,
http://www.thornsoft.com/) which far extends the clipboard. I only use
its Explorer view to look at, edit, and manage clips. It's ClipBar
viewer is too basic for me. You can get it free by using the TrialPay
offers: you trial some other software, and you get Clipmate for free.
However, you need to kill the trial before it expires, else you pay for
the other software. That means you have to divulge a credit card to a
3rd party, but then directly buying Clipmate has you doing the same but
to Thornsoft (Clipmate) rather than someone else. There are LOTS of
clipboard managers, but many are nothing more than a history list of a
limited number of clips, so you don't get the feature of a clip viewable
in multiple formats. Previously I was using ClipMagic (which started as
freeware, and had many features of ClipMate), but ClipMagic went to
payware only. I remember trialing many clipboard managers, and decided
to pay for one to get a decent and robust feature set. I didn't want
just a history list of paste clips. I also wanted to control
organization of the clips into archives aka groups to better manage
them, let me edit them, have different format views of them, and lots of
other features that I couldn't find in freeware clipboard managers.

While many word processors have an option to view their proprietary
format codes (Word show a backwards P with a doubled vertical stroke to
demark its paragraph marker), so you can drag just short of a format
marker, web browsers don't have that. However, if you don't turn on
viewing of formatting characters, or your word processor doesn't have
the option, you could also end up including centering, font size,
bolding, paragraph, and other formatting characters in your selection.

Whether copying from a web browser, word processor, or any other app
that supports formatting control, copying a selection means you could
very well include those formatting characters. Just because you see
text doesn't mean it is plain text.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG

On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 at 18:45:29, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote (my
responses usually follow points raised):
>swalker <sw@newsguy.com> wrote:
>
>> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
>> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
>> the start of what is to be copied.
>>
>> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
>> highlighted.
>>
>> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>>
>> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>>
>> Thanks.

I've noticed of late - especially copying YouTube info text, but that
might just be where I notice it most - that, having highlighted some
text satisfactorily, the next action (such as right-click to bring up a
menu with Copy in it) often makes the highlighting disappear (which is
infuriating as it's usually been fiddly to select exactly what I want);
I'm _sure_ this has got worse of late. (Yes, I can use Ctrl-C, but if I
was mousing anyway ...) I've found - if I remember! - that taking the
mouse cursor _outside_ the highlighted block and then bringing it back
in sometimes prevents loss of the highlighting.)
>
>You are copying HTML, not just plain text. You don't get to see the
>HTML formatting tags; else, it would look like a jumbled mess of HTML
>tags (which is text) with the text you do see. If your selection
>includes, say, the paragraph marker then you select the paragraph.
>Unless you look at the raw source of the web doc, you don't know what
>you are selecting.

(Yes, I was going to say copy from the source, but that's a real pain -
you have to _find_ the text you wanted in the source. And even getting
to see the source isn't made easy by modern browsers - I don't have in
my head how you do it in Chrome, for example. [It's under right-click in
the ancient Firefox I use.] And if the text you want includes some tags
_within_ it, copying from the source won't avoid them, in fact it'll
guarantee them.)
>
>Instead of dragging with the mouse, double-click on the last word that
>you want to include. The double-click will select the word, not any
>punctuation following the word. Then position the mouse to the middle
>of the first character on the string where you want the selection to
>start, and Shift+click. Everything from the last word you selected to
>the character you clicked on gets selected. Then use Ctrl+C to copy the
>selected text.

Yes, I've been using that too. But it does need use of both mouse and
keyboard - a backwards step in a GUI world.
[]
>To eliminate including any HTML code in what you select, you could use a
>tool that makes sure just the plain text gets copied into the clipboard,
>like PureText. You make the selection of whatever you see, you hit
>Ctrl+C to save into the clipboard, and use PureText's hotkey to paste
>plain text into whatever is the currently selected app's window, like
>pasting into Notepad. I defined PureText's Paste hotkey as Ctrl+Shift+V
>(so, I added Shift to the Ctrl+V hotkey).
>
>If you want to keep click+dragging to select text, you have to end the
>drag on something less than the end of the string you want to copy.
>Since click+drag selects on word boundaries, you'll have to end your

Does it always? If so, I hadn't registered that. (I'd thought it was
only a [default, anyway] behaviour of Word.)

>selection at the prior word to where the paragraph tag would get
>included, and they you'll have to add the last word in the paste
>operation.
>
>Some clipboard managers have a similar feature. When you copy something
>into the clipboard, a copy gets saved into the clipboard manager. In
[I have one of the free ones, but rarely remember that I do!]
>
>While many word processors have an option to view their proprietary
>format codes (Word show a backwards P with a doubled vertical stroke to
>demark its paragraph marker), so you can drag just short of a format

Yes, I always have the invisibles turned on - but I've found that this
confuses a lot of people!

>marker, web browsers don't have that. However, if you don't turn on
>viewing of formatting characters, or your word processor doesn't have
>the option, you could also end up including centering, font size,
>bolding, paragraph, and other formatting characters in your selection.

Word, also (maybe other word processors too) does have a "paste as plain
text" option - but paste including formatting is the default, and it's
easy to forget to use the PAPT one. (_Maybe_ there's an option to switch
which is the default, but if there is I don't know of it - anyone?)
>
>Whether copying from a web browser, word processor, or any other app
>that supports formatting control, copying a selection means you could
>very well include those formatting characters. Just because you see
>text doesn't mean it is plain text.

Indeed.
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG

Thanks for the tip of PureText - looks useful:
https://stevemiller.net/puretext/ . Rare to find something these days
that works from '95 to '10! [Can't be any good though - what, only 38
KB? Most software these days even the logo is bigger than that (-:!]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

.... she has never contracted A-listeria or developed airs and graces. Kathy
Lette on Kylie, RT 2014/1/11-17

"swalker" <sw@newsguy.com> wrote

| Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
| highlighted.
| | This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
|

As David said, try disabling script and/or CSS. The Mozilla
people could have added such a feature. But many pages are
getting much worse due to various reasons. CSS use has gone
crazy. Script use has gone crazy. The other day I wanted to
copy an image but there was no image when I right-clicked.
So I switched to no style and the image was there. Often
image tags are completely broken, requiring script to pick
from a list of images! People waste 4 MB on script libraries
but then they break image tags in order to save a few KB
on JPG file sizes. And that's just images.

I haven't noticed the problem you're describing, but it could
result from the CSS structure, with FF seeing the paragraph
as a unit. With script there can be other problems, such as
disabling selection outright. Or script operations can inadvertently
mess with your selection. Sites also use script to force you to
enable script. For example, I've noticed cases where links don't
work because an invisible DIV is put on top of them. Then
script is used to remove the DIV. So, no scrpt, no links. It gets
complicated. Web coders work fulltime coming up with new tricks.

I use NoScript and rarely allow any script, so I don't normally
see all that monkey business. I also use a CSS toggle button
on the toolbar. Often I disable CSS simply to make a page more
readable, so I can get plain, 13px verdana rather than triple-spaced,
24px Times New Roman or Georgia, or whatever the unreadable
serif font du jour is that people use because they think it makes
a page look more "authentic". Disabling CSS will give you a page
that looks like 1999, with your default style choices. Plain, simple,
readable. No tricks. The only down side is those idiotic SVG vector
graphics. Without CSS they fill the width of the view window! So
you might sometimes have to scroll past about a foot worth of
Facebook and Twitter logos to find the text.

swalker pretended :
> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
> the start of what is to be copied.
>
> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
> highlighted.
>
> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>
> Thanks.

This may help with the process, try using the AutoCopy extension. I've
run into that problem as well, bu once you get the exact portion you
want to copy, hold that position for (blink of an eye) and it is
automatically copied to the clipboard, confirmation is via a popup at
the bottom of the screen. Works for me and makes copying a lot easier.

--
Zo

This is a Tag line Virus::::::Go ahead, copy me.

On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 17:25:13 -0500, swalker wrote:
> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
> the start of what is to be copied.
>
> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
> highlighted.
>
> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>
> Thanks.

Web page (i.e. HTML document) is different than the rest of document types.
In HTML, selections may includes HTML elements (read: containers), so the
start/end point of a selection deepends on whether a point specify an offset
in a string/text, or an element.

It's why sometimes, depending on the layout of a web page, a phrase can only
be selected as a whole; or when specifying the selection end point, the
selection can suddenly select text in a different area. The latter one
usually occurs when the end point is somewhere in or at the
parent/grandparent element of the element which is involved in the starting
point.

On 9/21/2021 6:25 PM, swalker wrote:
>
> I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
> page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
> the start of what is to be copied.
>
> Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
> highlighted.
>
> This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
> Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>
> Thanks.
>
I think a partial Screen Print should work OK instead of browser.

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>>If you want to keep click+dragging to select text, you have to end the
>>drag on something less than the end of the string you want to copy.
>>Since click+drag selects on word boundaries, you'll have to end your
>
> Does it always? If so, I hadn't registered that. (I'd thought it was
> only a [default, anyway] behaviour of Word.)

I've found single-click and drag which does character by character is
more likely to capture a formatting character or tag unless you get very
precise with pointer position, and are lucky. Double-clicking and
dragging selects by word, and is more likely not to include a formatting
tag, like double-clicking and dragging on the first word, and dragging
to select up to the last word, but you'll probably miss the trailing
period character to end a sentence, but that's easy to re-add after
pasting. It's unusual, if trying to copy text, that I don't want
complete words, and want to start selecting in the middle of a word.

>>While many word processors have an option to view their proprietary
>>format codes (Word show a backwards P with a doubled vertical stroke to
>>demark its paragraph marker), so you can drag just short of a format
>
> Yes, I always have the invisibles turned on - but I've found that this
> confuses a lot of people!

It's only you seeing them. When others open your document, they'll see
however they configured their viewer.

On Wed, 22 Sep 2021 at 14:10:09, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote (my
responses usually follow points raised):
>"J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>>
>>>If you want to keep click+dragging to select text, you have to end the
>>>drag on something less than the end of the string you want to copy.
>>>Since click+drag selects on word boundaries, you'll have to end your
>>
>> Does it always? If so, I hadn't registered that. (I'd thought it was
>> only a [default, anyway] behaviour of Word.)
>
>I've found single-click and drag which does character by character is
>more likely to capture a formatting character or tag unless you get very
>precise with pointer position, and are lucky. Double-clicking and
>dragging selects by word

I didn't know about double-click-then-drag; thanks. [Now, if I can just
manage to _remember_ it ... (-:]
[]
>>>While many word processors have an option to view their proprietary
>>>format codes (Word show a backwards P with a doubled vertical stroke to
>>>demark its paragraph marker), so you can drag just short of a format
>>
>> Yes, I always have the invisibles turned on - but I've found that this
>> confuses a lot of people!
>
>It's only you seeing them. When others open your document, they'll see
>however they configured their viewer.

I meant, people I'm showing how to do things in Word. The extra
characters worry them. (As near I can tell, their worry is that they'll
get printed, and my assurance that they won't doesn't get in.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

She didn't strike me as much of a reader. It's never a good sign if someone
has a leaflet with a bookmark in it. - Sarah Millican in Rdio Times, 17-23
November 2012

On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 17:25:13 -0500, swalker <sw@newsguy.com> wrote:

>
>I often find it necessary to copy a portion of a paragraph on a web
>page. To do this I attempt to start the copy by doing a click+hold at
>the start of what is to be copied.
>
>Sometimes but not always the entire paragraph is automatically
>highlighted.
>
>This is not desirable and it occurs only on web pages IIRC.
>
>Is this a function of FF or of Win 7 and how do I change it?
>
>Thanks.

I do appreciate all the comments and I think what I need to do having
tried it with success is to go to the end of what is to be copied and
drag backwards.

swalker <sw@newsguy.com> wrote in
news:pbcrkg9v34hr58el3jtnt1ecj5vsiscvv1@4ax.com:

>
> I do appreciate all the comments and I think what I need to
> do having tried it with success is to go to the end of what
> is to be copied and drag backwards.
>

That's what I was going to offer. (I missed it that mention in the very first reply!!)