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Thanks for your help, Fred. But, as stated on the original post, I had already tried a clean install deleting all the folders, which of course deleted navigation data. I also said I tried safe mode.

Now I tried disabling hardware acceleration. Didn't solve the problem. Not on Windows 10, not on my other computer, which runs Linux Mint 19 with Firefox 66.0.5.

You can try by yourself and see if you can select text on this site with Firefox (and compare with other browsers)

Thank you.

Yes, I see what you mean now. Something on that website/page is causing the issue. Contact their support.

https://www.ghacks.net/2019/05/17/translate-anything-instantly-in-firefox-with-translate-man/ This is a translator add-on. Text that you highlight is displayed in a small window with its translation. I think you will find it very useful on that web page.

It's strange, when I click into the address bar then the selection becomes apparent, but not while the cursor is still in the document.

There is a method sites can use to modify the appearance of selected text in their style sheets (::selection on MDN). I think it's very odd to make it appear that it is not selected, however.

To override what the site is doing, you could inject this style rule into the page:

/* Restore selection appearance */
::selection {
  color: white !important;
  background-color: #0074e8 !important;
}

The easiest way to do that automatically is to use an add-on. For example:

Install Stylus, a tool for applying custom style rules to sites:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/styl-us/

And then install this custom style rule:

https://userstyles.org/styles/172274/restore-selection-appearance-on-globo-com

FredMcD said

Yes, I see what you mean now. Something on that website/page is causing the issue. Contact their support.

Thanks fro your input, Fred, but this is far from being a way towards a solution. The text selection on this site work in every browser but Firefox. I need it for work (part of my research job is quoting various news sources to my co-workers), so I'd rather ditch Firefox. It's a Firefox issue. The text selection used to work even on Firefox old versions.

jscher2000 said

It's strange, when I click into the address bar then the selection becomes apparent, but not while the cursor is still in the document.

Exactly! It's SO annoying!

The easiest way to do that automatically is to use an add-on. For example: Install Stylus, a tool for applying custom style rules to sites: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/styl-us/ And then install this custom style rule: https://userstyles.org/styles/172274/restore-selection-appearance-on-globo-com

That's a great tip. I'm now using my third computer (Windows 10 64bit) which never ran Firefox before. What I did:

1. Install Firefox, latest version

2. Test text selection on the website. Same issue.

3. Install the Stylus add on

4. Install the custom style rule (I understand you created this rule for this sole purpose, is that right? Wow, man, thank you very much. Going out of your way to help someone you don't know, I truly appreciate that)

RESULT: IT WORKS!

Thanks a lot, Jeff, that is amazing. But I'm still baffle as why does this happen on this site only on Firefox. Do you have any clues?

jscher2000 said

There is a method sites can use to modify the appearance of selected text in their style sheets (::selection on MDN). I think it's very odd to make it appear that it is not selected, however.

I have a very limited knowledge of web design, so I tried to take a look at the source code of an article on the website, using Google Chrome. The styles are as such:

body.multicontent {

       color: #333;
       background-color: #FFF;
   }

   .theme a {
       color: #C4170C;
   }

   .theme a:hover {
       color: #A6130A;
   }

       .mc-body *::selection {
           background: [196, 23, 12, 0.2];
       }

       .mc-body *::-moz-selection {
           background: [196, 23, 12, 0.2];
       }

   .theme-hover a:hover {
       color: #A6130A;
   }

Would this have anything to do with what you said?

The *::selection and *::-moz-selection rules would be related. I'm not sure I understand the syntax of their background value. Is that a way to specify the color, like RGBA()?

jscher2000 said

The *::selection and *::-moz-selection rules would be related. I'm not sure I understand the syntax of their background value. Is that a way to specify the color, like RGBA()?

I haven't the slightest idea. If it is, those numbers would correspond to #C4170C, which is their titles / URL color.

I added this thread to a pending bug report. It doesn't appear it will be fixed in a hurry:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1343967#c1

It generally is not helpful to add further comments to a bug beyond the new example and competitive comparison, so I think for now you'll need to use "self-help" for that site and any others you run across.

Or you could mention the problem to the site so they can fix their style sheet.

jscher2000 said

I added this thread to a pending bug report. It doesn't appear it will be fixed in a hurry: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1343967#c1 It generally is not helpful to add further comments to a bug beyond the new example and competitive comparison, so I think for now you'll need to use "self-help" for that site and any others you run across. Or you could mention the problem to the site so they can fix their style sheet.

Well, that's what I wanted: an explanation for why it's happening. I think I will be going back to Chrome for now. Thanks a lot for your patience and dedication to go to the core of it.

The Inspector shows that this background property in invalid. If I edit this rule and add background-color: rgba(196, 23, 12, 0.2); the I see a reddish color for selected text.