Highlighting text in Wikipedia scrolls up too fast?
To be honest I have some problems explaining what I mean, which might be why I can't find a solution or explanaition for it.
I use firefox on Linux and out of habit i highlight text while reading it. I always did that and it helps me to read a lot faster and to relax my eyes while reading. It's something i don't think i can get rid of, even if I tried, it's just so deeply burned in.
As well I use to scroll the text I'm reading to the top out of the same reasons or maybe it's just habit as well, but I realised I cannot get rid of it as well :-)
So no to my problem:
Usually this works flawless, i can highlight text and have the cursor where I'm reading in the topmost visible line. But for some strange reason this does not work in the "new" wikipedia layout. where if I highlight text in the upper third of the page it scrolls upwards quite fast which just fucks up everything and makes my day bad. (this behaviour is not present in the old design which e.g. the germand wikipedia still uses)
Is it me?
Is it my browser?
Is there a way to get rid of this, so I can keep my workflow while reading and learing on wikipedia? Is somebody else observing this behaviour?
Where can I even start to look for a solution? I don't even know what to look for.
It truly bothers me, as I'm close to every day on it, and it might be my favorite website.
I heard there is a way to switch to the old wikipedia layout, which might be a workaround. But I actually like the new Layout a lot, so if there is a way to avoid that it would be great :-)
I looked into the CSS on Wikipedia and I think a fix would be to apply this CSS:
html {scroll-padding-top: 75px !important;}When you're logged in to Wikipedia you can go to Preferences > Appearance > Custom CSS
ah, yes. This does seem to fix it:
Thank you! that was the perfect fix!
Oh weird! I can definitely replicate this in my browser. Fedora 41; Firefox and Chromium too. Scrolls down normally but scrolling up while selecting makes it go really fast.
Hmm... I played around with the CSS and layout for a bit and couldn't find anything interesting. Firefox starts scrolling 200px below the top of the viewport. Compared to other sites which start at 0px... it is unexpected. But if you pretend the top is 200px lower then you can slowly select text and it will move slowly :)
maybe file a bug with Wikipedia
Otherwise, I suggest you get rid of this awful habit! lol (I used to do the same) maybe replace it with turning the mouse into a big PgUp/PgDown simulator...
so I'm not the only one! this feels good :-)
getting rid of the habit is sadly no option for me obligatory xkcd
I don't do it often myself (though I sometimes do highlight text), I just want to say that I have seen many people do it over the years. So you certainly aren't the only one ;)
I did some experimenting and it is indeed quite bad on the new layout. However, it also depends on how quickly move your mouse up. So maybe you don't need to get rid of the habit entirely, just train yourself to move your mouse a bit slower?
its not that i move the mouse up, its that i scroll the line i'm reading to the top, and if i start highlighting it it gos so fast i just end up on top of the page
Just to describe the workaround you mentioned:
you can create a Wikipedia account and select the old theme in your account settings. Wikipedia will then always use this theme when you're logged in.
For anyone who doesn't want to create a Wikipedia account or who wants to be able to open links in other browsers/incognito without logging in: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/458501-vector-layout-for-wikipedia
Slightly off-topic but I've found this is the perfect use case for ai chatbots like chatgpt. When you sort of know something is wrong, but you're not exactly sure what could be causing it or what it's related to and so have a hard time looking up solutions online. I've found that just describing what I'm feeling to chatgpt and explaining what I'd like to happen usually gets me pretty decent results. It either knows exactly what I'm talking about and what the solution is, or it at least describes what the problem is in clearer language, which then gives me something more concrete to look up online for solutions.
So I pasted your post into chatgpt and got some possible explanations, as well as some possible solutions. Maybe one of them can work, or at least give you a jumping off point to something that might work:
chatgpt answers
Potential Solutions:
Switch to the Old Wikipedia Layout (Workaround):
While you mentioned you like the new layout, the simplest workaround might be to use the old layout on the English Wikipedia. You can switch to the old layout using this URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering, and under the "Rendering" tab, you should find the option to switch to the "Legacy" (old) skin.
This might resolve the issue if you’re comfortable with that.
Check Firefox Add-ons and Settings:
Disable certain extensions: Sometimes, extensions (especially ones related to scrolling, like "Smooth Scrolling" or "Auto Scroll") can interfere with page behavior. Try disabling any relevant add-ons and see if that resolves the issue.
Tweak Firefox settings: You might be able to tweak the browser’s scrolling settings. Type about:config in the Firefox address bar and search for parameters like general.smoothScroll to adjust scroll behavior.
Custom User Style (CSS):
If you're feeling a bit adventurous, you could use a custom user style to prevent this dynamic scrolling behavior from triggering when you highlight text. Using a tool like Stylus (a browser extension), you can inject custom CSS that overrides the page's behavior. You could try disabling the auto-scrolling or adjust the scroll-behavior property in the CSS for the page.
A simple CSS workaround to try could be:
Testing with Other Browsers:
If you have access to a different browser (like Chromium, Brave, etc.), it could help to test whether the issue persists across browsers. If it doesn't, this might point to a Firefox-specific issue or interaction with a particular Firefox feature.
that might actually be a usable workaround for me, to just disable this scrolling feature, as i don't actually need it (i think)
will try that when i get back
thank you