This feature is really important if you have a very very unique content website or an online eBook. So here is the basic post and required post for all of you. In this post, we'll see how to prevent copying text in a webpage and I have got a bonus too.
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Simple and Basic ONE!
-> This is the simple tutorial for preventing copying of an element on the web-page. Ex. p, div, main.
So here is how we can do that.
<div id="test" onmousedown='return false;' onselectstart='return false;'>
<!-- So we're disabling the texts coming under div tag-->
Let's see an example-
See you can't select the text now. 👊
Using CSS
-> You can directly disable by using CSS by just applying these properties to the whole body, you can move them to a class and apply that class to the elements you want to disable select.
/* Prevent text selection of a <body> element in all major browsers */
h2 {
-youbkit-touch-callout: none; /* iOS Safari */
-youbkit-user-select: none;
/* Chrome 6.0+, Safari 3.1+, Edge & Opera 15+ */
-moz-user-select: none; /* Firefox */
-ms-user-select: none; /* IE 10+ and Edge */
user-select: none; /* Non-prefixed version,
currently supported by Chrome and Opera */
}
Here is the example for that-
Disabling Right Click
-> So technically no chances of copying.
We will use JavaScript and jQuery
document.oncontextmenu = new Function("return false;");
///JavaScript
$(document).ready(function () {
$("body").on("contextmenu",function(e){
return false;
});
});
// jQuery
The main motive is to capture the onContextMenu event, and return false in the event handler. So, this will block the access from mouse right click as well from the keyboard.
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Top comments (30)
Well, I can copy using DevTools 😂
Nice article, though 👍
Cheater😁
Google lens can copy any text any where
Found the second cheater.
Pretty sure that this also makes the content inaccessible
Yea it will maybe.
Whatever you may try, one can always use Puppeteer, DevTools or View Page Source.
However, I would want to send signals to say, you are not intended to copy, unless you want to break the law. (And disable easy-copying, without breaking a11y, e.g. tab.)
Hahaa yea.
It's better to choose a correct license I promise there is no merritt to any of the above techniques. Get the LAW on your side.
Ahh!! 🤣
🚨🚔 DMCA anyone who dares oppose your IP
user-select: none ?
Yea simple. (See the browser support too brother)
i use css shims for this :-)
amazing.
I think we can access content using Request module.
I found the 4th cheater.
This is also identical to using, say, cURL or HTTPie.
I cheated two times🙄😂
I'm requesting the Dev community to ban you 😂😂😂😂
Thanks for sharing!
There is also more robust solutions like rendering text within the canvas or even better transform the text to SVG in the backend.
On mobile I can copy like usual (iPhone)
Third cheater.
So I tried the example in my favorite browser, curl, and had no problem copying...