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how to disable hand cursor

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Framed

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While hovering over the text of a link, the cursor changes into a hand. This has the effect, that i cannot select text from that link anymore, but instead, the whole link is dragged as if it were an image.

Not only the dragging is annoying, but also the form of the cursor, as i find it less precise.

How can i disable the changing into a hand cursor once and for all?

While hovering over the text of a link, the cursor changes into a hand. This has the effect, that i cannot select text from that link anymore, but instead, the whole link is dragged as if it were an image. Not only the dragging is annoying, but also the form of the cursor, as i find it less precise. How can i disable the changing into a hand cursor once and for all?

Chosen solution

Hmm, not sure about Linux, but on Windows, if you keep the Alt key pressed while selecting in or into a link, Firefox will not follow the link when you lift the mouse button. So that way you can safely select whatever part you like.

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You would need to add a piece of CSS code, like this, to a userContent.css file:

a {
    cursor: default !important;
}

It's not necessarily a fix-all solution, since some websites may have links that are created a non-standard way, but this should stop the cursor from changing to a hand when hovering a link.

A userContent.css file is the same as setting up a userChrome.css file, only it controls the appearance of website content, not the Firefox UI itself. You can read How to Create a userChrome.css File for some more information on how to create a userChrome.css and then just change the file name to userContent.css instead.

You can change what cursor you want to use instead of the hand (pointer) cursor by changing default to another cursor code (see this MDN page for more information).

Hope this helps.

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Chosen Solution

Hmm, not sure about Linux, but on Windows, if you keep the Alt key pressed while selecting in or into a link, Firefox will not follow the link when you lift the mouse button. So that way you can safely select whatever part you like.

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@Wesley that is a great tip, i will definitely try it out.

@jscher2000 Indeed, im on linux. Yes, by pressing Alt i can safely select text inside the link and this will suffice, thank you.

Although, if Alt is released before the left mouse button, a request is made and the link is followed, which is a little bit surprising and whereas id prefer to stay on the current page. But that is just a little flaw, where the devs can decide it they want to go into it.