[thelist] IE6 problem

.jeff jeff at members.evolt.org
Thu Nov 7 04:07:00 CST 2002


trev,

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> From: Trev Parsons
>
> I created a PHP/JavaScript system to prevent image
> theft, [...]
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you wouldn't happen to be preventing right-clicking on images or worse, the
entire document would you?  if so, lemme know which continent you're on so i
can send a gang of evolt.org members to deal with you.  ;p  seriously
though, i hate it when people take that capability away from me.  i use the
right-click all too often and for legitimate reasons.  maybe i'm surfing
with images off (cause my dsl sucks *that* bad) and pick and choose the
images to view and must right-click the image and select "show image" to
load it.  you take that away from me, i'm not going to be happy.  you pop an
alert telling me the sh!t on your site is copyrighted and i'm likely to
scoop up the entire site and email it to you 1,000 times just to prove it
can be taken.  after all, right-clicking doesn't mean i intend to do
something bad.

<aside>
a site i visited the other day had implemented the "no right-click" script
so poorly that i couldn't right-click on form elements to use the "select
all/cut/copy/paste/delete" context menu.  i just added a new leg to my cross
country trip just to visit them and put their developer out of my misery.
;p
</aside>

before anyone pipes up and says that i only use the right mouse button when
surfing cause i'm a poweruser, let me dispel that myth right here and now.
my girlfriend, who has become computer savvy only by her own motivation has
used the right-click menu to navigate back to previous pages in her history
from almost day one.  she prefers that method over moving the mouse up to
the back button or using the backspace key or alt+left arrow key
combination.  you better believe she's not happy about sites that take that
capability away from her.  the frustration isn't that her browser doesn't
work, but that the "stupid site won't let me right-click".

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> I know this isn't totally possible, but not every user
> is going to think of viewing the source and copying the
> URL.
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viewing the source and copying the url is the least of your worries.  what
about turning off scripting?  what about looking in the cache?  what about
doing a screen capture?  what about dragging and dropping the image to the
desktop?  what about dragging it to another browser window where it can be
saved from?  etc. etc. etc.

if you've read nothing else of what i've had to say, please take away at
least the following from this email:

the chance that your attempts to prevent image theft are going to piss off
one of your users is *quite* a bit higher than the chance that you'll
actually be able to keep anyone from taking any images they want.  which is
easier to work with from a pr perspective -- happy customers or pissed off
customers?  i'd personally rather not piss them off.

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/




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