Case of the Invisible CSS ::selection

Recently I noticed a weird bug in my free WordPress security plugin, Banhammer. For some reason, I could not select any text on the page. Usually when you click and move the mouse cursor over some text, it becomes highlighted and displayed in some other color. But this wasn’t happening on the Banhammer settings screen. No matter which HTML/text I tried to select, it just wasn’t working. T’was a real mystery..

Live Demo

Cracking the Case

After trying all the usual fixes, like clearing browser cache, different browsers, force reload, et al, I was coming up empty. So I donned my detective gear and began troubleshooting all related files. I figured the issue was somehow related to either CSS or JavaScript, so I applied the halving method to diagnose each of the CSS and JavaScript assets that were loaded on the page.

Luckily, the first file I checked was the plugin’s primary stylesheet. Turns out the issue was with empty ::selection declarations:

::-moz-selection {}
::selection {}

At the time, I added these rules as a placeholder for future styles. What I had failed to recognize was that, when the ::selection selectors are defined AND empty, the color property defaults to inherit in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. So it’s the same as including this in your CSS:

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

The inherit value instructs browsers to inherit the property from the parent element. So what exactly is the parent of ::selection? Based on the exhibited behavior, the parent element must be undefined. Hence, no color is applied, and the text remains its current color.

What about background-color? By default, browsers apply a background color to selected text (usually a blue-ish color). But when it is not defined in the ::selection declaration, background-color falls back to its default value, transparent. Hence, no background-color is applied, and the text background remains its current color. Like an invisible selection.

Seeing is Believing

To see the issue for yourself, check out the Demo showing the strange invisible selection behavior. Try to select and copy any text on the page. It appears as if you aren’t selecting anything, but in fact you are.

The Solution

Once the mystery had been solved, resolving the issue was simple. Either:

• Define some style(s) (like color or background-color) for ::selection
• OR simply remove the empty ::selection declaration

Amazing how simple this turned out to be. Lesson learned: if it seems like you can’t select any text on the page, try copying and pasting anyway. It could be that the selection styles are hiding from you.

The Twist

Just like any good mystery story, this one has a twist: the “invisible selection” issue only happens when adding empty ::selection rules via external stylesheet. If the styles are added inline, like via <style> tags, text highlighting works fine.

As you can see in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, the inline-style demo works normally: when you highlight some text, the background-color changes to the default blue color as expected. To understand the difference, compare with the external stylesheet demo.

1 Weird Little Bug

I’m not sure if the “invisible selection” behavior is intentional or a weird little bug. Should empty selectors like ::selection have any effect on anything? Logically they should not have any effect, like if you add an empty class .whatever{}, absolutely nothing changes and no properties are presumed or affected. Why should ::selection behave any differently?

Also, why does the weird behavior happen only when adding styles via external stylesheet? Should the mode of CSS delivery have any effect on applied styles? Rhetorical question: it should not.

This is why I think this is a bug on the browser side of the equation. Specifically with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. Safari does not exhibit any weird invisible selection behavior. Not sure about other browsers; fortunately I have a life ;)

Conclusion

So the empty-selection, invisible-highlighting behavior seems like a bug that’s specific to certain (major) browsers. I’m no CSS guru, but in my opinion it would be better for empty selectors to not have any effect on anything. If nothing else, I mean, if the browser vendors decide that this for whatever reason is not a bug, then at least the same behavior should apply regardless of whether the CSS is applied via external stylesheet or inline <style> tags.

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Designer. Developer. Producer. Writer. Editor. Etc.