I don't know what it is but when I read things on a screen I tend to click and drag, highlighting the text that I'm reading, or double clicking the paragraph to select all of it. Anyone else do this?
Except on sites like Medium where if you click anything it highjacks the selection and gives you a bunch of nonsense. For example this article on the front page right now:
I will highlight once in a while, but only a particular sentence or phrase that I want to sit back and focus on for a moment.
Another quirk I've noticed is that I always scroll more than necessary while reading. It feels odd to have the text I've just read sitting at the top of the screen, so I scroll down to get it out of my view.
Maybe it's an ergonomic preference; it feels better to look at the top of the screen rather of the lower half (I work on a laptop with no stand). Whenever I am sharing focus on a screen with someone and I notice they are reading all of the visible text on the screen before scrolling, I realize how particular my habit is.
Yes. I usually triple click to select the line/paragraph I'm on. If some site fucks with that setting, I try to disable most of their javascript with the "Absolute Enable Right Click And Copy" add-on's "Absolute Mode" and if that doesn't work I close the site.
Thanks for the add-on recommendation. I tend to select paragraphs and sentences as I read articles just like OP, so this should do nicely to neuter sites that try to override selection behavior.
This is common among people with ADHD or visual tracking issues. Highlighting text helps focus your attention, and it provides a visual guide as you move between adjacent lines.
If you find highlighting to be useful, check out BeeLine Reader. [1] It offers a similar benefit, and also improves reading speed for many people. Disclosure: I am the creator (and am happy to give an extended free pass to any HNers who reach out!).
I had no idea so many people did this, as I can't imagine wasting the time mousing around like that; so you can imagine how surprised I was at the first bug reports on gwern.net from people having problems with highlights (from the link-underlining using drop shadows, usually). "I'm amazed you noticed such a subtle bug! ...you what"
I don't highlight in real time what I'm reading but I use it as a bookmark if I need to take my eyes away from the screen or step away from my computer. I also sometimes highlight as I go in a long article proactively so if I need to look away I've "saved my spot". I hate when sites pop up a share UI or similar when I highlight, I never want to do that and if I do want to share I'll just copy/paste it, not use your "tools".
Yes, I triple click constantly to keep track of where I am at.
Also, I'll scroll up the paragraph I am currently reading to the top of the browser window, which gets really annoying with some sites sticky header implementation where the smallest upward scroll causes the header to re-appear and cover the exact text I am trying to focus on.
I am a highlight reader. Going through this thread, I thought it would be nice to automate it, as it's a triple-click to highlight a paragraph in safari.
What if instead, it was just on hover? I'd like to opt into this for just pages with long text, and so I created a bookmarklet.
It works ok, if any fellow highlight readers want to give it a try, but does anyone with any sort of css-fu know how to make it more robust? I tried adding other tag:hovers, but nesting quickly makes this weird. Is there a way to select parents of text nodes?
I do it all the time and have been doing it as long as I can remember. I couldn't tell you why, but as others have pointed out it annoys the crap out of people when they're trying to read with me.
Yeah I always tripple click things I read, always have. Drove a coworker of mine nuts because he just hears clickerclickclick all the time. I just do it mindlessly. I think it helps me focus? I tried to abstain from it for the sake of the coworker but it was really hard to focus.
Edit: This is also why I don't read articles on medium. Before I know it I've shared half a sentence or a word to twitter or some shit.
That's actually what made me post this. My boss was presenting a Google Doc that I was reading during a meeting. I realized that I was repeatedly highlighting the line he was reading and it must have been super distracting.
I regularly underline in the books I read, with ruler and pencil. When it comes to instructions and rules, I underline and highlight.
Sorry for this question. Is it possible to highlight a part of a text somewhere in a web page, copy it, paste it somewhere else in a word processor as a quote/hyperlink and when you click on it you end up exactly where the quote is on the web page ?
I think it's a fidget of sorts, to generate stimulation. I guess in order to help stay focused reading blocks of text. If I'm not randomly selecting bits as I read I might be reading it aloud. Otherwise I might loose my focus, resulting in rereading bits more than I need to, or just falling off finishing it.
I have to, in many cases. Too many sites blazing white, like staring into a monitor-sized car headlight, with faint spidery gray text unresolvable among the glare.
This used to be taught as "good UI design." I disagree strongly...
[+] [-] Someone1234|4 years ago|reply
Except on sites like Medium where if you click anything it highjacks the selection and gives you a bunch of nonsense. For example this article on the front page right now:
https://medium.com/enzymit-log/why-enzymit-decided-to-build-...
Try selecting text.
[+] [-] plinkplink|4 years ago|reply
Just add:
#root ~ div { display: none !important; }
.. to your custom stylesheet for medium.com (and all their crappy subdomains and clones) to get rid of that super irritating social media popup thing.
Either that or use Firefox's underrated "reader view" by pressing F9. It's totally worth it.
Stylus for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/ Stylus for Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stylus/clngdbkpkpe...
[+] [-] gunfighthacksaw|4 years ago|reply
If it’s a hyperlink, make it look like one.
If it doesn’t behave like hypertext, GTFO MAH HTTPZZ
[+] [-] warrenm|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tpoacher|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emersauce|4 years ago|reply
Another quirk I've noticed is that I always scroll more than necessary while reading. It feels odd to have the text I've just read sitting at the top of the screen, so I scroll down to get it out of my view. Maybe it's an ergonomic preference; it feels better to look at the top of the screen rather of the lower half (I work on a laptop with no stand). Whenever I am sharing focus on a screen with someone and I notice they are reading all of the visible text on the screen before scrolling, I realize how particular my habit is.
[+] [-] MiddleEndian|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dont__panic|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gnicholas|4 years ago|reply
If you find highlighting to be useful, check out BeeLine Reader. [1] It offers a similar benefit, and also improves reading speed for many people. Disclosure: I am the creator (and am happy to give an extended free pass to any HNers who reach out!).
1: https://www.beelinereader.com
[+] [-] tra3|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gwern|4 years ago|reply
I had no idea so many people did this, as I can't imagine wasting the time mousing around like that; so you can imagine how surprised I was at the first bug reports on gwern.net from people having problems with highlights (from the link-underlining using drop shadows, usually). "I'm amazed you noticed such a subtle bug! ...you what"
[+] [-] joshstrange|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] syntheticcdo|4 years ago|reply
Also, I'll scroll up the paragraph I am currently reading to the top of the browser window, which gets really annoying with some sites sticky header implementation where the smallest upward scroll causes the header to re-appear and cover the exact text I am trying to focus on.
[+] [-] throw_away|4 years ago|reply
What if instead, it was just on hover? I'd like to opt into this for just pages with long text, and so I created a bookmarklet.
Using this page:
https://mcdlr.com/css-inject/
I added this naive css:
It works ok, if any fellow highlight readers want to give it a try, but does anyone with any sort of css-fu know how to make it more robust? I tried adding other tag:hovers, but nesting quickly makes this weird. Is there a way to select parents of text nodes?[+] [-] tomazio|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ldenoue|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] The_rationalist|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] midasz|4 years ago|reply
Edit: This is also why I don't read articles on medium. Before I know it I've shared half a sentence or a word to twitter or some shit.
[+] [-] Engineering-MD|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mostertoaster|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sour-taste|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wara23arish|4 years ago|reply
Funny enough tho, I hate highlighting actual paper text, i never understood the point of that
[+] [-] betterburnout|4 years ago|reply
Sorry for this question. Is it possible to highlight a part of a text somewhere in a web page, copy it, paste it somewhere else in a word processor as a quote/hyperlink and when you click on it you end up exactly where the quote is on the web page ?
[+] [-] rahimnathwani|4 years ago|reply
Search Google for 'chrome copy link to highlight'.
[+] [-] huydotnet|4 years ago|reply
[1]: https://github.com/huytd/highl.it
[+] [-] pyxelr|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jarenmf|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saperyton|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Pyrodogg|4 years ago|reply
I think it's a fidget of sorts, to generate stimulation. I guess in order to help stay focused reading blocks of text. If I'm not randomly selecting bits as I read I might be reading it aloud. Otherwise I might loose my focus, resulting in rereading bits more than I need to, or just falling off finishing it.
[+] [-] Froedlich|4 years ago|reply
This used to be taught as "good UI design." I disagree strongly...