Using User-Select
2019-06-04
Highlighting text in order to copy, cut or paste content is a staple action across the web. Now, what if I told you the ability to control what a user can select is configurable with a single CSS property?
Introducing the CSS property
Simply put, the user-select
property is defined as follows:
user-select
controls whether the user can select text (cursor or otherwise)
The CSS
The property’s available attributes are very straightforward (just remember to target specific browsers for full support!)
/* Default */
p.default {
user-select: auto;
-moz-user-select: auto;
-webkit-user-select: auto;
}
/* Disable the user from selecting text */
p.no-select {
user-select: none;
-moz-user-select: none;
-webkit-user-select: none;
}
/* Select all text when user clicks */
p.select-all {
user-select: all;
-moz-user-select: all;
-webkit-user-select: all;
}
Let’s see it in action
Try selecting the separate paragraph elements in the CodePen below:
Browser Support
The great news is user-select
is fully supported across all modern browsers (even as far back as IE10!)