[HN Gopher] The web's clipboard, and how it stores data of diffe...
___________________________________________________________________
The web's clipboard, and how it stores data of different types
Author : alexharri
Score : 153 points
Date : 2024-09-01 11:02 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (alexharri.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (alexharri.com)
| cebert wrote:
| Nice writeup. This explains why I have issues trying paste
| with/without formatting on Firefox on my Mac in Google Docs. It's
| interesting that Google is using a deprecated API to add their
| own content type format to the clipboard.
| throwaway48476 wrote:
| At some point the Google web should be declared an official
| fork of the web.
| dumbo-octopus wrote:
| If some bigwig has marked an API "depreciated", but hasn't
| provided a viable alternative and the user experience suffers
| when _user agents_ stop allowing their _users_ to invoke the
| helpful functionality, the agents who do let their users do
| what they want are not the issue.
| kevingadd wrote:
| I miss the flash player and unity player plugins too.
| Remember how powerful activex was?
| robocat wrote:
| The main issue with powerful tools is that they get used
| against you by threat actors.
|
| Our society sets limits based on the most selfish. Our
| computers get limitations based on the most effective
| threat.
| Terretta wrote:
| Particularly good combination of scope (including differences
| across systems and browsers) and depth (including both gotchas
| and workarounds).
| alexharri wrote:
| Thanks! I've been trying to limit excessive detail and tangents
| in my writing (my posts tend to be on the longer side). Great
| to hear I managed to strike a good balance here.
| 38 wrote:
| rich text content should never be the default paste. just give me
| the damn text I copied
| Sayrus wrote:
| For what it's worth, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + V will paste the raw
| clipboard even if a rich format is available.
| zie wrote:
| I just paste through a plain text editor(i.e. paste into a
| plain text editor, verify and copy the bits I want, then
| paste it in it's intended destination). I know not ideal, but
| at least that way I can see and verify everything before
| pasting it somewhere important. I'm sure there are some hacks
| one can do with rich formats, that some people might try to
| take advantage of.
| gwervc wrote:
| I do that within a new browser tab url bar, since the
| shortcut is quite annoying to type.
| pests wrote:
| Sending your clipboard data to Google if you have
| predictive type on
| rzzzt wrote:
| But do you press Ctrl/Cmd + C three times or more to make
| sure it takes effect?
| threecheese wrote:
| Why are you watching me???
| eyelidlessness wrote:
| Software (OS, browser, native apps, web apps, ...) should make
| it easier to use plain text for both read/write clipboard
| operations. And probably should make it easier to prefer doing
| that.
|
| I know that's a lot more words to say a similar thing, but it
| avoids two problems with how you put it:
|
| 1. Not everyone will share your preference. (I'd hazard a guess
| that it's a minority preference, albeit one I mostly share.)
|
| 2. It's self-contradictory. The "damn text I copied" is not
| just an array of characters: it often _includes formatting_ ;
| it frequently interpolates other content that isn't even text
| at all.
|
| The latter is largely the basis for the former. You--and I,
| mostly!--might be after that array of characters. But many many
| people are after that richer content, and would be utterly
| baffled by copying something rich only to get that array of
| characters on the other side. And quite a lot of people would
| have little recourse to get what they want.
|
| This is why the multipart clipboard solution is a pretty good
| compromise. It could be better! It could definitely accommodate
| the preference for plain text. But it can only be better for
| those of us with that preference, without regressing for the
| much more common preference, by keeping the common preference
| as default.
| taejo wrote:
| Part of the problem is a poor (or insufficiently DWIM)
| implementation of rich text copy-paste. If I copy text that
| has some parts bolded or italicised, that is indeed "the damn
| text I copied". But the fact that the source website happens
| to be 12pt blue Verdana should not override the fact that I'm
| writing an email in 11pt black Arial.
|
| In many cases I do not particularly care whether an email is
| in 12pt blue Verdana or 11pt black Arial, I absolutely care
| about there suddenly being a big blue word in the middle of
| my otherwise-consistent paragraph.
| dumbo-octopus wrote:
| Sometimes I agree, but recently I was trying to copy all the
| contents from one Quip to another and the system was entirely
| unable to support pasting the same look&feel I copied. No, I
| don't want my headings and links and code and lists and......
| to all be given back as plain ASCII. Drove me bonkers.
| nyanpasu64 wrote:
| My problem with rich-text paste is that it transfers unwanted
| presentational formatting, resulting in mismatched fonts,
| sizes, and typography. I generally either want plain-text paste
| or preserving semantic elements (like bold/italic emphasis,
| links, and bullets).
|
| More generally, when editing a document I want to be able to
| view both formatted text and "escaped" contents (like "view
| source"), and when copy-pasting or saving text, I want to be
| able to convert formatted text into "escaped" text to diff, and
| also paste text without misinterpreting asterisks and angle
| brackets as formatting information (until I explicitly copy
| text as source and paste as formatted).
| cr125rider wrote:
| This was awesome. Thanks!
|
| A really nice deep enough dive into some of that nuance.
| fitsumbelay wrote:
| very illuminating and idea-provoking deep dive. thanks.
| kfarr wrote:
| My takeaway is the most reliable way to send custom app data over
| clipboard is using data embedded in HTML a la figma. Bonus is
| that method lets you define failure behavior via html message if
| receiving app doesn't support
| fitsumbelay wrote:
| btw, what was the Chrome extension you were prompted about on
| your macbook?
| weejewel wrote:
| Years ago when I was a student, and JavaScript could get a user's
| clipboard without their consent, I made a website 'getpasted'
| that automatically pasted and posted your clipboard to a public
| database.
|
| Needless to say, some people weren't happy about it. But it was a
| nice project to create awareness that it was possible to read the
| clipboard at any time.
| threecheese wrote:
| Excellent read, thank you. Just wanted to note that the author of
| Pasteboard Manager[0], Sindre Sorhus, is also the maker of
| Actions[1] shortcut library as well as other cool iPhone and Mac
| apps. Not sure if he is on HN. - 0.
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pasteboard-viewer/id1499215709
| - 1. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/actions/id1586435171
| djbusby wrote:
| On the subject of getting "private" data from the browser.
|
| Somehow my Bank webapp was able to 2FA prompt me on sign-in with
| my hostname (aluminium). How did it get that? And when using
| their site from mobile it's able to see the text with the 2FA
| code and auto paste it in! Wow/How? Pixel+Chrome or Linux+Chrome.
| echoangle wrote:
| At least the 2FA Code probably is a Chrome feature, safari
| displays 2FA SMS text codes as a autocomplete suggestion and I
| could imagine that Chrome on Android just autofills it. For the
| hostname, it's more difficult. Are you sure you never gave that
| info to the bank as a username or similar? What Bank is this?
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-09-01 23:00 UTC)