Selecting paraghraph text while surfing...

Why are you unable to select text smoothly in some browsers?

[boole]

When I read text online (especially longer pieces) I like to select/highlight the text I'm reading with my mouse. I find the inversed contrast somehow more plesant for reading and the selection also gives me a reference for a quick follow-up in case I need to scroll extensively. As I read, I keep movig my mouse/selection simultaneously.

Now: For certain websites (mostly the ones that that have a heavy css control of typographic features), I'm unable to click in between any two letters, smoothly drag my selection as long as I want it and release the click so that I have my selection. What happens is: when I click somewhere in the text and try to drag the selection, it automatically selects the whole paragraph (from the point where I clicked).

This only seems to happen with IE6, and as I said, just on certain websites. Is that just a browser thig? What in the structure causes such behavior? Can it be avoided?

It's a minor, stupid thing that somehow iritates me. I hope i was clear with the explanation.

[dmorison]

This is a known bug in Internet Explorer (6?), and is to do with its handling of absolutely positioned <div>s. I guess it has a hard time figuring out what text you're trying to select when there could be text from different <div>'s floating above one another.

I can't find an MS knowledgebase article on this, so it is probably not fixed yet, however there is a KB article on an issue about DHTML events (not firing) and absolutely positioned <div>'s, which I guess is related.