10 ms·
> The problem is that I'm constantly selecting the lines I'm reading I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one! I compulsively select random blocks of text: select
by pandler 10y ago
> The problem is that I'm constantly selecting the lines I'm reading
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one! I compulsively select random blocks of text: select up, select down, repeat. I definitely get annoyed with the popup-menu-on-select feature of Medium, but I feel I can hardly blame Medium for my random, compulsive habit.
- simula67 10y agoI sometimes select the current line that I am reading. This helps me to quickly figure out the start of the next line when I am finished reading the current one.
- PakG1 10y agoI used to do this. Switching to using a MacBook full-time fixed that habit for me. Even when I connect to a big monitor, I use a trackpad, not a mouse. Harder to compulsively highlight with that thing.
- glaberficken 10y agoI share this "pain". I have the unshakable habit of triple-clicking a paragraph to highlight it to serve as a mark of where I was at when i need to interrupt reading.
- Sarang235 10y agoI also have the same ehabit. I a glad I am not the only one.
- glaberficken 10y agoInteresting little curiosity about how triple-click implementation varies in some popular software =) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-click
- alexkavon 10y agoI too am a highlighter.
- pinouchon 10y agoI too am a highlighter
- jonathanpoulter 10y agoMe too, anyone know why this is a thing? Such a common twitch... does it help reading?
- Someone 10y agoI do not have any data on it (1) but I think it's like moving a bookmark across the page as you are reading: it makes it easier to jump from the end of one line to the start of the next one. (1) not even on the claim that that bookmark has that effect.
- zacmps 10y agoIt's called meta-guiding
- antisthenes 10y agoI have acquired this habit from the 2 years I've spent playing Starcraft : Brood War and Starcraft 2 semi-competitively. In the game you have to select units by dragging a box around them, and that habit has carried over to selecting text on the screen in pretty much every computer application. I know that probably doesn't answer your question, but that would probably require a neuroscientist. It doesn't help me read personally, it just seems to be one of those repetitive tasks that slightly autistic people do. Some of my coworkers share this habit as well, and they've never played RTS games, so it's acquired in different ways.
- tgb 10y agoSo what do you guys think of HN? I get frustrated by how if I drag the selection down on HN comments, the selection will "hop" up at certain points. It's very aesthetically unpleasing, but I just need to click and drag select whatever I'm reading.
- jordanlev 10y agofwiw, I believe this is due to HN's archaic table-based html layout, as opposed to some javascript code like on medium and this new ms docs site.
- ihsw 10y agoThis is it. It has to do with border-spacing between table cells -- when you select text that runs into the border-spacing, it resets the selection to go from 1) original cell 2) start of the table 3) next cell. With more sane styling (ie: setting border-spacing to 0), the selection won't jump to the start of the table.
- scrumper 10y agoI don't mind HN, you can get all sorts of pleasing patterns of highlight by dragging down nested comment hierarchies. Extra satisfying when you get the darker 'double highlight' and you can make it pop by wiggling your fingers a bit. This is just heaven here: http://imgur.com/asQy8v3 http://imgur.com/asQy8v3 Look at all those lovely lines and right angles.
- cooper12 10y agoHey, don't sell yourself short. It's akin to using your finger while reading a book. It helps you to keep your place and focus, which the highlighting in browsers works even better for. So I wouldn't necessarily call it a quirk that Microsoft doesn't have to account for. Webdevs should really stop overriding browser defaults in detriment to the user experience. (nothing is more evil than clipboard hijacking)
- infogulch 10y agoI wonder what proportion of the web population does this, and if they have a demographic skew. I think I remember starting this back in the late 90's in response to a combination of extremely janky, inconsistent scrolling and tiny monitors which made me easily lose my place while reading a long article. So I'd highlight a section of text before scrolling as a marker, which developed into a compulsion over time. The constant clicking drives my friends and coworkers nuts.
- jakub_g 10y agoNot only Medium, there are lots of websites like this. BTW It seems there's lots of us compulsive clickers here on HN :)
- avuserow 10y agoI used to do this and then stopped once I switched to Linux where selecting text put it on a clipboard automatically. I suspect it's related to some patterns when reading books, like putting a bookmark below your current line and moving it down, or following your current position with your finger.