How to disable text selection in CSS

In this article, we will explore different methods to disable text selection using CSS. There may be cases where you want to prevent users from selecting and copying text from certain elements on your web page. Let's dive into the techniques to achieve this!

Different ways to disable text selection in CSS

1. Using CSS user-select Property
2. Using CSS pointer-events Property
3. Using CSS ::selection Pseudo-element

1. Using CSS user-select Property

The user-select property allows you to control the text selection behavior of an element. Setting it to none disables text selection.

Example:

.no-select {
  user-select: none;
}

2. Using CSS pointer-events Property

The pointer-events property controls the interaction events on an element, including text selection. Setting it to none disables text selection.

Example:

.no-select {
  pointer-events: none;
}

3. Using CSS ::selection Pseudo-element

The ::selection pseudo-element allows you to style the selected text on your page. Setting its properties to none effectively disables text selection.

Example:

::selection {
  background-color: transparent;
  color: inherit;
}

Conclusion

By utilizing CSS properties like user-select, pointer-events, and the ::selection pseudo-element, we can effectively disable text selection on specific elements of our web page. This can be useful in scenarios where you want to prevent users from copying or highlighting text, such as in interactive elements or certain content areas.

Keep in mind that these methods only affect text selection on the client-side and do not provide foolproof protection. Determined users can still access the underlying HTML or use other means to copy the text. Therefore, consider the implications and use these techniques judiciously.