build/posts/user-select/index.html


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<h1 id="using-user-select">Using User-Select</h1>
<p>2019-06-04</p>
<p>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?</p>
<h2 id="introducing-the-css-property">Introducing the CSS property</h2>
<p>Simply put, the <code>user-select</code> property is defined as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>user-select</code> controls whether the user can select text (cursor or otherwise)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="the-css">The CSS</h2>
<p>The property&#8217;s available attributes are very straightforward (just remember to target specific browsers for full support!)</p>
<pre><code>&#47;* Default *&#47;
p.default {
    user-select: auto;
    -moz-user-select: auto;
    -webkit-user-select: auto;
}

&#47;* Disable the user from selecting text *&#47;
p.no-select {
    user-select: none;
    -moz-user-select: none;
    -webkit-user-select: none;
}

&#47;* Select all text when user clicks *&#47;
p.select-all {
    user-select: all;
    -moz-user-select: all;
    -webkit-user-select: all;
}
</code></pre>
<h2 id="lets-see-it-in-action">Let&#8217;s see it in action</h2>
<p>Try selecting the separate paragraph elements in the CodePen below:</p>
<p><a href="https://codepen.io/bradleytaunt/pen/QRooZp/">Live CodePen Example</a></p>
<h2 id="browser-support">Browser Support</h2>
<p>The great news is <code>user-select</code> is fully supported across all modern browsers (even as far back as IE10!)</p>
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