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Comment by n8agrin | Hacker News Reader

A minor observation, but I appreciate how they show the user highlighting text in one of their search results for truffles. Having done some usability work and watched users work on their computers, highlighting what is being read is such a common behavior, it's cool to see Google so in touch.

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People really do that? I had no idea. Why do they highlight what's being read? I'm confused and intrigued.

I do it to keep track of my position when I scroll a document.

Nervous habit, really.

It's the 21st century equivalent of tracing your place on the page with your finger as you silently mouth the words.

Kidding:-) I had a boss who was always highlighting stuff back and forth, and it definitely seems to be some sort of nervous habit more than anything.

When I'm reading something it helps me find my place again if I get interrupted or need to look up something in a different browser tab. It also makes text more readable when sites do odd things like put medium gray text on a light gray background (for instance HN comments with a score < 1).

Do users still highlight when using a trackpad instead of a mouse?

I do. I tend to double or triple click to highlight the word or paragraph I'm reading. It's more of a fidgety thing than the need to track what I'm reading.

Side note: Any website that uses a double click on a word to launch a webpage defining the word or a search of their website with that word is EVIL and needs to be wiped off the face of the internet permanently. New York Times, I'm looking at you. (Besides, on a Mac I can right click and choose Look Up in Dictionary or Search in Google)

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