Bug 64655 – CSS Transitions and Transforms do not work with ::selection

• Component: CSS
• Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

[BrianMB]

::selection is a terrific tool; it enables a ton of opportunity for branding and creativity.

Two major CSS3 features do not work with it: Transitions and Transforms.

[Alexey Proskuryakov]

Could you please attach a test case for the failure?

[BrianMB]

Certainly Alex:
http://jsfiddle.net/brianblakely/EN6MH/

[Simon Fraser (smfr)]

I think this is by design. Selection should not change layout.

[BrianMB]

Hi Simon, I take it you're referring specifically to the Transforms aspect of the bug.

I can think of various scenarios where I would like to play with the transformation of selected content (hence, the filing of the bug, because I found I could not do that).

[Simon Fraser (smfr)]

::selection has been removed from the current CSS3 selectors draft <http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/#selection>. The previous draft said:

> These are the CSS properties that apply to ::selection pseudo-elements: color, background, cursor (optional), outline (optional). 

and it's unlikely this will change. Altering layout as the user selects both results in a terrible user experience, and and is tricky for the browser to implement.

[BrianMB]

Considering ::selection is probably treated as an inline element internally, it wasn't the right decision from an engineering perspective to include matrix transformations in this ticket (even if I disagree on the UX note; that decision should be left in the hands of the designer).

Filed a more specific ticket to pick up the discussion on transitions for color and background-color.
https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64670