420797 - If text selected on a page, right clicking on a link shows copy and copy link location, confusing

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Menus, defect)

Description

[Marius Hudea]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.2; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080201 Firefox/2.0.0.12
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.2; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080201 Firefox/2.0.0.12

Sometimes I select some text on the page and copy it to clipboard.
If some text remains selected and you right click on a link on the same page, the context menu shows "Copy link location" and "Copy"
Plenty of times, I click on "Copy" instead of "Copy link location" and when I paste in another document, of course it pastes the previously selected text that remains selected on the page.

This behavior is wrong as far as I can see. The "Copy" option should be related to the link, not to some text I have previously selected. Well, there should be no "Copy", because I guess that's why "Copy link location is there"... or should the "Copy" menu entry copy to clipboard the text of the link?

Also, when I right click on a link, I usually expect for the text to be automatically deselected, as happens in any text editor.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. select any text on a page
2. right click on a link 
3. "Copy" option in the menu, copies the previously selected text in the clipboard
4. Copy and Copy Link Location are causing confusion (at least in my head)
Actual Results:  
Previously selected text is copied to clipboard

Expected Results:  
Copy option should not appear as it's not related to the link, or should copy link text or link or something in connection with the link.

Comment 1

[Marius Hudea]

Also, when text is selected and I right click on a link, "Search Google for..." and "View Selection Source" are appended to the menu, related to the selected text.
Other menu entries, like "Inspect element" which I think is added by the Firebug extension, work fine.

Comment 2

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

I see the same behaviour in Internet Explorer.

Comment 3

[Marius Hudea]

As I rarely use IE, I never noticed it.
I don't know, I think if that entry stays there should be at least a separator betwen those menu entries, because they're not related. 

"Copy link location"'s context is the link for which the menu was opened and copy belongs to the selected text.
But being "context menu", when I right click on a link, I personally expect to get menu entries related to the link, not to some selected text.

After all, if you select some text including an URL, when you right click on the selected text you don't get the Copy Link Location option just because a link is present inside the selected text.

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(comment 0) worksforme, to the extent that it copies exactly  what I expect it to, and lists the functions which I would expect to be offered for the type*s* of text selected and where I click. To point out the obvious, there is good reason it is called a context menu.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b2) Gecko/20081125 Firefox/3.1b2

Since this is working as designed, => INVALID. But if you want the behavior changed, suggest you reopen and change this to an ENH request. But (in my limited experience) I can't see it ever being changed as you suggest.

Comment 5

[Marius Hudea]

No, it's Ok. 

I still think that if a person right clicks on something the options should be about what he clicked (therefore that Copy should do something relating to the link, not some random text selected on the page) but as I see all browsers work the same so it doesn't matter what I think.

I agree that as it is now it's probably the best for everyone so INVALID is Ok.