Offscreen Text for Copy & Paste
The relationship between HTML and CSS is special: mixing content via HTML with presentation from CSS to make an awesome presentation. Sometimes, however, you need to employ CSS tricks solely to enhance functionality. This could be one of those cases.
When browsing through the Firefox DevTools console code, I noticed a really clever technique for hiding text on screen but making sure it's present during a copy + paste. Here's the technique:
<p>Jenny don't change your number <span class="copy-only">8675309</span></p>
.copy-only {
display: block;
position: absolute;
left: -9999999px;
top: -9999999px;
}
With the CSS above, the screen displays "Jenny don't change your number" while copying that line would result in "Jenny don't change your number 8675309".
When you plant the text offscreen via CSS, it's still copied to the clipboard when the user does a copy operation. You're essentially picking and choosing what gets copied, which can be very valuable if you expect users to copy your content.
![9 Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos]()
As much as developers now loathe Flash, we're still playing a bit of catch up to natively duplicate the animation capabilities that Adobe's old technology provided us. Of course we have canvas, an awesome technology, one which I highlighted 9 mind-blowing demos. Another technology available...
![JavaScript Promise API]()
While synchronous code is easier to follow and debug, async is generally better for performance and flexibility. Why "hold up the show" when you can trigger numerous requests at once and then handle them when each is ready? Promises are becoming a big part of the JavaScript world...
![Create Snook-Style Navigation Using MooTools]()
Jonathan Snook debuted a great tutorial last September detailing how you can use an image and a few jQuery techniques to create a slick mouseover effect. I revisited his article and ported its two most impressive effects to MooTools.
The Images
These are the same...
![Editable Content Using MooTools 1.2, PHP, and MySQL]()
Everybody and their aerobics instructor wants to be able to edit their own website these days. And why wouldn't they? I mean, they have a $500 budget, no HTML/CSS experience, and extraordinary expectations. Enough ranting though. Having a website that allows for...
Very nice, gotta love those little CSS tweaks.
Small caveat, only works if the user double-clicks on line to select, won’t if it’s a “click-hold on first letter and drag cursor” kind of copy
Does it work in all browsers? It’s very easy to use and simple, but I’m concerned that it could be too simple to work in every browser.
These simple and small tweaks help a long way in designing. Thanks a lot for sharing :)