On 01/06/2023 18:41, R.Wieser wrote:
> Yes, that works/if/ you can find a blank area.
How thick is your cursor? Words are separated by a space but if the
cursor is very thick like the user then you can't click on the space or
the blank area!.

Some users have lots of problems with their mouse especially if they
have Parkinson's or old age.

R.Wieser <address@is.invalid> wrote:

>Hello all,

>Sometimes I have the need to select some text thats inside the description
>of a weblink.

>The problem is that when I go over the text (and the mousecursor turns into
>a hand) any left-mouse down is interpreted as a "follow the link", and I
>thus cannot start to select text.

>tl;dr:
>whats the trick to select text when the mousecursor is turned into a hand ?

For whatever reason, when I select from the right to the left and not
vice versa, it's easier to copy the text without following the URL.

"The Real Bev" <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote

| Mouse-selecting from right to left rather than the normal left-to-right
| method sometimes works if you start in a blank area.
|

That's what I do, too. I just select a bit more than
the link text. But Rudy never actually wants solutions
to his problems. He just likes having problems. And he
really enjoys shooting down solutions. :)

"R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> wrote:

> Alex,
>
>> Try Shift + arrow keys to select what you want to copy,
>
> In a browser ? That doesn't work.

Hmm, something that this post reminded me of: caret browsing. It is an
Accessibility feature in the web browser.

https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-caret-browsing/
There are three main things you can do with caret browsing:
....
- Selecting text: The easier way to select text is to turn on caret
browsing, hold the Shift key, and use arrow keys for selecting text.

I've never used caret browsing, but maybe it's a workaround to select
the comment text in hyperlinks. In Firefox, enabling/disabling caret
browsing is easy: just hit the F7 key to toggle the mode.

"R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> wrote:

> Sometimes I have the need to select some text thats inside the
> description of a weblink.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/copy-element-s-text/

Looks to do what you want which is to copy an element's displayed text.
I tried it on the example site you gave. It copied the comment text for
regular hyperlinks, and also from the News Stories table at the end of
the web page. You right-click on the element's text, and select "Copy
element's text" in the context menu. Goes to your clipboard to paste
wherever you want.

Alex,

> Just click where the selection should start or end.

How does that work out for you when you do that in the middle of the
description of a link ?

Maybe you should read my initial question first.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Dave,

> The main API used was introduced in Fx 55 -see:

I'm sorry, but I do not see any indication there of which browser(s) that
page is(are) for.

But, I'll take your word for it that its v55 and above. That leaves me out,
as I'm running v52 (last one for XP). And luckily I didn't yet try to
implement any of it ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Kev,

> On Windows you can supposedly hold the Alt key and select the text:
> https://superuser.com/a/1276159

Thanks ! The simple and direct way that I was looking/hoping for. Saves me
a quite a bit of paste-copy work-arounds. :-)

.... Now all I need to do is not to forget to remember that keyboard-mouse
combination. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

"R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> wrote:

> Dave,
>
>> The main API used was introduced in Fx 55 -see:
>
> I'm sorry, but I do not see any indication there of which browser(s)
> that page is(are) for.
>
> But, I'll take your word for it that its v55 and above. That leaves
> me out, as I'm running v52 (last one for XP). And luckily I didn't
> yet try to implement any of it ...

Geez, more respondents will figure you are up to date on Firefox, not
using an ancient version that still supported the XPCOM/XUL coding for
add-ons. You really should've mentioned you are back on Windows XP in
your original/starting article. You've wasted a lot time by respondents
making suggestions in versions of Firefox long after 52, and add-ons
that use Webextensions API instead of XPCOM/XUL.

Since you chose to stick with an ancient version of Firefox, and because
you are using it on Windows XP where FF v52 was the last version of
Firefox that supported XP, my other response mentioning an add-on that
does exactly what you ask will likely not work in a pre-53 Firefox that
is over 6 years old.

If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.

On 2 Jun 2023 03:53:43 -0500 VanguardLH wrote:
>
>
>
>Geez, more respondents will figure you are up to date on Firefox, not
>using an ancient version that still supported the XPCOM/XUL coding for
>add-ons. You really should've mentioned you are back on Windows XP in
>your original/starting article. You've wasted a lot time by respondents
>making suggestions in versions of Firefox long after 52, and add-ons
>that use Webextensions API instead of XPCOM/XUL.
>
>Since you chose to stick with an ancient version of Firefox, and because
>you are using it on Windows XP where FF v52 was the last version of
>Firefox that supported XP, my other response mentioning an add-on that
>does exactly what you ask will likely not work in a pre-53 Firefox that
>is over 6 years old.
>
>If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
>old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.

There was, IIRC, a period of about 2 years when Web eXtensions had been
introduced, but the old ones were still supported. I think v52 lies within
that period. But, as with that context menu API, not all WX APIs were
avaiable from the start, so one might or might not work. I doubt if the
'works with' versions on AMO are reliable that far back. You'd have to try
it.

And yes, it would have been helpful to mention that it is for an ancient
version.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

VanguardLH wrote:

> If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
> old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.

In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...

Dave,

> There was, IIRC, a period of about 2 years when Web eXtensions had
> been introduced, but the old ones were still supported. I think v52 lies
> within that period.

Indeed it does.

There is bug in v52 though (only fixed in a version beyond XP's reach) :
when you disable JS the background procesing of Web eXtensions doesn't work.
Took me a while to figure out that it was not my programming that was at
fault. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Andy,

> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...

It does.

And I suspect it also works with the newest version of Windows and Firefox.

IOW, the OS and FF version isn't relevant - which is why I didn't include
it.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

"R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> wrote:

> Andy,
>
>> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
>> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...
>
> It does.
>
> And I suspect it also works with the newest version of Windows and Firefox.
>
> IOW, the OS and FF version isn't relevant - which is why I didn't include
> it.

Ah, hindsight, the perfect science. Once you knew of the solution then
suddenly the OS and FF version were irrelevant. <smirk>

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
>> old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.
>
> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...

Yep, that would be a better and integral solution than the add-on that I
found (but might provide a more general solution to grab text from any
type of element in an HTML doc). Good find by Nerd. I checked, and the
trick works with Firefox 113.0.2 on Windows 10 x64 Home 22H2.

To anyone using Firefox on Linux: could you verify Alt also works in
Firefox (pre-53 or post-52) on Linux? Sometimes the Linux version of
Firefox has different features or behaviors.

VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> To anyone using Firefox on Linux: could you verify Alt also works in
> Firefox (pre-53 or post-52) on Linux?

Yeah holding Alt while dragging on a window moves the window, but
holding the Windows key (AKA "Super" key) and Alt _does_ work. It
turns out the Windows keys weren't getting assigned to "Super" on
the computer that I was testing with before, but other Linux
systems seem to work (X key mapping can be shown using the "xev"
test program).

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On 6/2/23 1:33 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>
>>> If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
>>> old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.
>>
>> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
>> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...
>
> Yep, that would be a better and integral solution than the add-on that I
> found (but might provide a more general solution to grab text from any
> type of element in an HTML doc). Good find by Nerd. I checked, and the
> trick works with Firefox 113.0.2 on Windows 10 x64 Home 22H2.
>
> To anyone using Firefox on Linux: could you verify Alt also works in
> Firefox (pre-53 or post-52) on Linux? Sometimes the Linux version of
> Firefox has different features or behaviors.

Glad to help -- FF82 on slackware. BUT I missed the actual usage of
'alt'. What should I do?

--
Cheers, Bev
"I don't think they could put him in a mental hospital.
On the other hand, if he were already in, I don't think
they'd let him out." -- Greek Geek

The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6/2/23 1:33 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
>> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
>>>> old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.
>>>
>>> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
>>> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...
>>
>> Yep, that would be a better and integral solution than the add-on that I
>> found (but might provide a more general solution to grab text from any
>> type of element in an HTML doc). Good find by Nerd. I checked, and the
>> trick works with Firefox 113.0.2 on Windows 10 x64 Home 22H2.
>>
>> To anyone using Firefox on Linux: could you verify Alt also works in
>> Firefox (pre-53 or post-52) on Linux? Sometimes the Linux version of
>> Firefox has different features or behaviors.
>
> Glad to help -- FF82 on slackware. BUT I missed the actual usage of
> 'alt'. What should I do?

On Linux: Hold down Alt and the "Windows" key together while
clicking and dragging the mouse cursor to select text within a
hyperlink.

On Windows: Just hold down the Alt key and do the same
(apparantly).

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On 2023 16:32:15 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>
>
>On Linux: Hold down Alt and the "Windows" key together while
>clicking and dragging the mouse cursor to select text within a
>hyperlink.
>
>On Windows: Just hold down the Alt key and do the same
>(apparantly).
>

Thanks for that tip. Works on Debian/xfce. I don't think I ever used the
Windows key on Linux: I've never known it do anything by default.

It's not mentioned here

<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perform-firefox-tasks-quickly>
(I think that page shows different info depending on your OS - not sure.)

I wondered it this was Fx or the WM doing this. But it doesn't happen in
Liferea, on a quick test.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

VanguardLH,

> Ah, hindsight, the perfect science. Once you knew of the solution then
> suddenly the OS and FF version were irrelevant. <smirk>

Ah, hindsight, the perfect science. Using it to complain and accuse that
the solution was only chosen after all the facts where on the table -
instead of allowing yourself to accept that that simple solution (notice my
initial post mentioning "whats the trick") was what I was after all along
(and only going along the path mentioning the add-ons to have a possible
backup solution).

And to be brash about it, how come that, when the subject changed to plugins
and what not - the time where the version of FF became relevant - you didn't
think of asking ?

You just assumed, right ? And that, as the old saying goes, has made a
fool outof you. <smirk>

tl;dr:
To me it looks that you, *in hindsight*, realized that you didn't actually
have all the information to be able to provide a relevant solution (other
than by luck), and now try to make it sound as if its all my fault (and none
of yours). Right ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

P.s.
I recently let you outof my oubliette, due to having posted some sensible
responses.
This one puts you (again) on the nomination to be put back into it.

On 6/2/23 11:32 PM, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 6/2/23 1:33 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
>>> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
>>>>> old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.
>>>>
>>>> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
>>>> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...
>>>
>>> Yep, that would be a better and integral solution than the add-on that I
>>> found (but might provide a more general solution to grab text from any
>>> type of element in an HTML doc). Good find by Nerd. I checked, and the
>>> trick works with Firefox 113.0.2 on Windows 10 x64 Home 22H2.
>>>
>>> To anyone using Firefox on Linux: could you verify Alt also works in
>>> Firefox (pre-53 or post-52) on Linux? Sometimes the Linux version of
>>> Firefox has different features or behaviors.
>>
>> Glad to help -- FF82 on slackware. BUT I missed the actual usage of
>> 'alt'. What should I do?
>
> On Linux: Hold down Alt and the "Windows" key together while
> clicking and dragging the mouse cursor to select text within a
> hyperlink.

The IBM Model M keyboard has no Windows key :-(

> On Windows: Just hold down the Alt key and do the same
> (apparantly).

I stand by my right-to-left method. Why is the right-click 'copy link
location' and then control-v method unsuitable?

--
Cheers, Bev
Giving advice likely to kill the stupid is called passive eugenics.

On 6/2/23 11:32 PM, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 6/2/23 1:33 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
>>> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> If you need help on old versions of software then mention you are using
>>>>> old versions of software, and old versions of the OS.
>>>>
>>>> In general I agree. But in this case, I suspect the "hold Alt" approach
>>>> will work with ancient Windows and Firefox ...
>>>
>>> Yep, that would be a better and integral solution than the add-on that I
>>> found (but might provide a more general solution to grab text from any
>>> type of element in an HTML doc). Good find by Nerd. I checked, and the
>>> trick works with Firefox 113.0.2 on Windows 10 x64 Home 22H2.
>>>
>>> To anyone using Firefox on Linux: could you verify Alt also works in
>>> Firefox (pre-53 or post-52) on Linux? Sometimes the Linux version of
>>> Firefox has different features or behaviors.
>>
>> Glad to help -- FF82 on slackware. BUT I missed the actual usage of
>> 'alt'. What should I do?
>
> On Linux: Hold down Alt and the "Windows" key together while
> clicking and dragging the mouse cursor to select text within a
> hyperlink.

No Windows key on the IBM Model M keyboard :-(

> On Windows: Just hold down the Alt key and do the same
> (apparantly).

I just realized that the object of the exercise is to select part of the
text description of a hyperlink rather than the whole thing or part of
the link itself. Duh. Alt-left click seems to do that with my system too.

--
Cheers, Bev
Giving advice likely to kill the stupid is called passive eugenics.

The Real Bev wrote:

> I stand by my right-to-left method.  Why is the right-click 'copy link
> location' and then control-v method unsuitable?

Because the O/P doesn't want to copy the target of the link, but the
descriptive text ...