About Firefox. Can it be?

[usonian]

Firefox (mac) just updated itself to 133.0 and lo and behold, yesterday it had the EXTREMELY annoying feature of not being able to copy text.

I'm serious, not hallucinating. I had to use the "Reader View" extension, lose some formatting, but was able to copy text (as in posting stuff)

Today, I can copy text from Firefox.

I mean, is this stuff even tested? I looked over posts referencing "can't copy text in Firefox" and it seems to have been reported from time to time in 2014, 2023, 2024.

Well, it seems to work now. Perhaps I should stop auto-updates now that it does what Mosaic-1.0 apparently did.

[brush]

1. So it's been corrected and I don't have to use the Reader View" extension?

I've been using Firefox for years but haven't always switched to the "Mosilla" whateve the updates are called.

[usonian]

2. As of today!

I just copied some text from FIrefox and pasted it.

WOO HOO!

Until the next update?

You can set it to auto-update in Firefox settings.
The killer reason I use Firefox is that the auto-pager extension works on most sites, whereas I never could get it to work on Safari.
If you can set it up, GhostText works on safari, Firefox and Opera (Opera is chrome engine, so that world of extensions works on it)
Ghost Text mirrors your text box (where I am typing right now) in the text editor of your choice. I think that's limited. I use SublimeText and it works great.

Good luck.

[CloudWatcher]

3. Firefox isn't doing well, drops 30% of staff

https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/05/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-staff-drops-advocacy-division/

Don't depend on them being around forever. Not saying they're doomed, but be prepared.

It's always a problem when people expect your product for free.

[usonian]

7. Mozilla never figured out a decent money model.

Techies have that problem a lot. The biggest ones just resort to advertising. And some still charge, like twitter premium.

[Think. Again.]

4. My firefox has always worked fine, no problems here.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. But is this true of *every* Web site ? Some make it VERY hard to copy text, others do not.

I have found this to vary a lot from one site to the next. I tend to avoid the ones that are too strict, since I can't easily save that info for later use, or pass it on to others.

I'm sure it has a lot to do with just how individual pages are coded. The latest Firefox may deal with a variety of methods more robustly, but it's likely that the people who created those pages will rewrite them to foil the latest changes, if they are that determined.

[usonian]

6. I looked up the problem. It was happening on every web page.

I had to use reader mode extension of Firefix, or use safari to copy text. And reader extension for Firefox does not toggle back. Even turning it off and refreshing the page!

I save pages to pdf for reference. Safari does a good job with "Reader" selected. But I can't set "pdf" as a default printer, so I have to select pdf every time.

Firefox has a great print style sheet, and often, "simplified" mode is even better.

Just search on "firefox won't copy text" without the quotes, and screens full of responses come up. I will turn off auto-updates so it won't revert to bad behavior.

Copying has been a Firefox problem, not just unfriendly web pages.

As for your point, on a well-behaved browser, nasty sites can be tamed by using a "reader" extension or by turning off javascript for the site. On ios, there is an app called Sheriff that lets you kill javascript and/or cookies selectively for each site. I use it.

[CrispyQ]

8. Word users ARE the QC department of Microsoft.

Joking...sort of.

They totally fucked up the Comments feature & are slowly working out their new model but it's annoying as hell.

PS - I love Opera but a lot of sites don't like the ad blocker so I keep Chrome open for those.

[LPBBEAR]

9. One of the best browsers available

I've used Firefox for years. I've never had a problem with it.
(In Linux and updated this morning)

copy/paste below


eppur_se_muova (37,469 posts)
5. But is this true of *every* Web site ? Some make it VERY hard to copy text, others do not.
Reply to usonian (Original post)
Wed Nov 27, 2024, 03:49 PM

I have found this to vary a lot from one site to the next. I tend to avoid the ones that are too strict, since I can't easily save that info for later use, or pass it on to others.

I'm sure it has a lot to do with just how individual pages are coded. The latest Firefox may deal with a variety of methods more robustly, but it's likely that the people who created those pages will rewrite them to foil the latest changes, if they are that determined.

[usonian]

10. Ways to copy

You can use a Reader extension.
It alters the formatting like crazy (on purpose) but in doing so it almost always makes text copy-able (No doubt by killing the javascript that does so)
Another way is to turn off javascript for that site or page. But that might prevent text at all if javascript creates the text.
And yet another is to save/print to pdf.

You can then share, or even mark up the PDF.
Yes, it takes expensive apps, including Adobe stuff, to do this is doable to various extents.

I am familiar with ones in ipad/ios, like Notability, NoteShelf, MarginNotes and others. (not lately though)

Given that there are few or no linux tablets, I have been OK with Apple ipads.
I got an ipad 1, and still use it to display music scores. (and books)
That saves about 30 pounds or more of printed scores.

In fact, there are cool things like a-Shell (a complete linux VM) Carnets (Jupyter Notebooks, batteries included), the Processing Language, Pythonista, LuaStudio and so on. All free, IIRC.

[Sector 001]

11. Who the heck uses Firefox in 2024?

[usonian]

12. I do because autopager seems to only work on Firefox

and I'm tired of clicking the NEXT button at the bottom of pages.

[ItsjustMe]

13. So you're using an outdated browser extension

On a outdated browser.



https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/desktop/worldwide/#monthly-202310-202410

[usonian]

14. It's outdated and works fine.

I'm outdated and work fine. And I don't give two shits what other people think and use because I'm not the average persion.

No point in being like everyone else.

[ItsjustMe]

15. Works fine!

Then why were you just complaining about them?

That fanboy mentality.

[usonian]

16. It wouldn't copy text but the latest update fixed it.

Yotta chill 🥶 out!

There are lots worse things.

And have a great evening.

Try GhostText. I got it to run on three separate browsers.