Posted by Auggie on 05/30/06 19:58

"Big McLargehuge" <noone@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:72qo72tcj0nh2lcbj6u1q4gk6uptg6o4v7@4ax.com...
> I've seen web pages where the text is still embedded in the source
> code, however when viewing the webpage you cannot select the text, and
> therefore copy it. I can't seem to identify how this is done by
> looking at the source code (i'm somewhat familiar with HTML but no
> expert) and I'd love to be able to do this as it prevents casual
> copying.

What you want to Google for is:

ONSELECTSTART
and
ONCONTEXTMENU

Both are javascript functions that can aid in preventing people from copying
text and images from your website...

HOWEVER:
The reason there are some that are up in arms about this (as you've seen in
replies to your post) is because that really it is going to be a waste of
time in the end and they are trying to get that point across to you and
others who ask this same question (this question comes up pretty regularly)

Using such methods will prevent the "casual" user from copying your text or
images... and you have to ask yourself: What harm is there going to be to
you if some Average Joe User copies a couple of paragraphs or downloads a
picture from your website?

When you think about the time involved in implementing and testing such a
method, the answer is going to be: "very little to no harm at all"

The ones you want to prevent from copying your text or images are going to
be other web designers or graphic designers... and the problem there is that
they will be able to easily bypass anything you put up - by either turning
off javascsript, viewing the cache folder, viewing the source of the web
page or even just taking a screenshot of the page.

So in the end no matter what you do to prevent people from copying text or
images off your site - somebody will be able to get what they want, even if
it means just retyping out what you have on your page.

And a large potential problem here is that if your scripting its not correct
and has been thoroughly tested you run the risk that anything you implement
could screw up in somebody's browser... and then you have the problem that
the average user you want to view your pages might not be able to... and the
guys who want to copy your page are free to do so.

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