Problem with drag on table cells

[Thierry]

I have a page in which the user can click & hold and then move over (not drag & drop) table cells to select them. (like checking multiple checkboxes by holding down the mouse button and then moving over them).

 

However, half the time you try to 'drag' from a table cell to start a selection, you get the 'NO' icon from the mouse, as if its trying to drag & drop the table cell itself. (click & drag on any text link and then move your mouse, you'll get the same result).

 

I've done some tests and even simple table cells with nothing but width & height also cause this. (note, it doesnt do it when there is text in the cell but that screws up the selection made with the cells themselves)

 

Is there any way to prevent the mouse from changing like this?

[dooper3]

So I think what you're saying is there may or may not be some text in each of these cells, and you want users to be able to select the text of multiple cells (whether empty or not) at the same time?

 

2 things:

 

Firstly, clicking and dragging a link will never work. The link acts as an object, which can't be moved, not a piece of text, so if you want to select it, you have to start from the far right of the link text and drag to the left if you catch my drift (i.e. where the icon is a typing line thingy, not a pointy hand).

 

Secondly, the same apples for table cells. If there is nothing at all in the cell, then it thinks you're trying to drag the page itself, which you can't do. If you try clicking and dragging in the bottom right of this webpage, you encounter this problem, because there's nothing in the cell there. What you probably need to do therefore is put one or more space in any empty cells (use  ), and this will make the browser think there's something there, even though the user can't see it.