Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Design and Content : To block or not to block mouse right bottom click?

[Oleks]

Hi,
Somebody suggest me to block mouse right bottom click to get high security for my Web site and Forum. I am wandering is this helpful?
Thank you.

[cybexhost1]

For security? Do you not want them to steal .jpg's or something? What are you attempting to acheive?

[DreamHost-MikeS]

Don't do this.

It will REALLY turn people off.

[bcmorgue]

I would recommend doing it on certain pages, like pages with anything that you will offer as a download. This will prevent people from copying the download link, to post on another website.

On main pages, with just text and images, I would say no to it. Some people like using the right click to do certain options.

[Oleks]

Originally posted by cybexhost1
Do you not want them to steal .jpg's or something?

Yes. Something like that.
Thank you.

[Mekhu]

I suggest to leave it. Sites that do this drive me nuts. I'm always right clicking to bring up the menu so I can go back...

[DreamHost-MikeS]

Originally posted by bcmorgue
I would recommend doing it on certain pages, like pages with anything that you will offer as a download. This will prevent people from copying the download link, to post on another website.

On main pages, with just text and images, I would say no to it. Some people like using the right click to do certain options.

View -> Page Source

Solved.

Anyone that wants to leech a file from your site will, unless you have an anti-leech script, or do no allow hot linking.

[DanPhx]

Originally posted by Oleks
Hi,
Somebody suggest me to block mouse right bottom click to get high security for my Web site and Forum. I am wandering is this helpful?
Thank you.

If it is the protect pictures thing you seek....
I've used this before:

<script language="JavaScript">
<!--

browserName = navigator.appName;
browserVer = parseInt ( navigator.appVersion );

function stopthief(ie)
{
var warning = "Right clicking this page is not allowed.";
if (browserName == 'Netscape' && ie.which == 3)
{
alert(warning);
return false;
}
else
if (browserName == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' && event.button==2)
{
alert(warning);
return false;
}
return true;
}

document.onmousedown = stopthief;

// -->


Hope this helps.


Dan

[cybexhost1]

Well, it is helpful if you do not want people so steal such an object as .jpg's. The problem is some people may become annoyed by this, if they want to do something as simple as a copy and paste, or something simple like that. I think we may need a stronger example on what you exactly are attempting to accomplish here.

[bcmorgue]

Well, one thing I found, and I have used it before, as a nifty little program called Download Link Cloaker 5.0
It's nice because it like "masks" the url download location, to make it useless for anybody who wants to copy/paste it to their site.
http://www.codelifter.com/lc5index.html

If you do want to disable the right click, here is a java script that I have used.
It's silent, no popups or sounds will play, it will just act like it ignored the button.

<script language="Javascript1.2">
function nrcIE(){
if (document.all){return false;}}
function nrcNS(e){
if(document.layers||(document.getElementById&&!document.all)){
if (e.which==2||e.which==3){
return false;}}}
if (document.layers){
document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN);
document.onmousedown=nrcNS;
}else{document.onmouseup=nrcNS;document.oncontextmenu=nrcIE;}
document.oncontextmenu=new Function("return false");
</script>

[rokamortis]

Disabling right-click to prevent images being stolen is rather pointless. If someone wants to get the images they can. It will only stop an honest thief as anyone determined enough will find a way to get the images.

They can check the page source and get the link to download the image directly

They can take a screen shot of the site and crop the extra stuff from an image editing program.

They can go through their browser cache and get the graphics

They can save the entire page locally and get the images that way

IMHO - the best thing to do to prevent images being stolen is to put a faint watermark on them with your site name. This is ideal for photos or similar graphics. This doesn't make a lot of sense to use on design elements but I've seen that done too.

[MexicoBorder]

Blocking the right Mouse button will not prevent that people copy your images or text.

I consider envios the web sites that block.

Also exposes the ignorance of the developer.

Limit the user to use the info for good pruposes, like sending a Mail or printing partial content of your web site.

Bloking limit the freedom of the web,

Do not be ñoño
Do no block mouse or keyboard

[Wullie]

Ok, I have a few questions for you to answer, based on the fact that you want to prevent others from seeing your source/getting images.

1) Please don't take this the wrong way if this does not apply to you but for the most part, 99% of people I know that want to hide their source learned the stuff from looking at the source of other pages. What makes you special?

2) Since you didn't create HTML and you use it free from royalties, what makes you think that you have the right to hide the source to the page?

3) Whatever you have on your page is likely to be freely available on many other pages. A unique piece of decent code is something I have not seen in quite a while. What have you made that is so special that you need to hide?

4) No matter what methods you apply to your site, any client side (it is called that for a reason) code can be retrieved by the client. If you hide code so that a client cannot see it, the browser cannot read it, so what is the point?

5) Right click is a function of the browser, what gives you the right to determine what functions of my browser I can and cannot access?

If you disable right click, even the least competent user can retrieve it from their cache, they can drag images to the address bar, use the keyboard to get right click etc. As I mentioned previously, there is no way at all (I challenge someone to prove me wrong) that you can hide client side scripting.

Think about this logically. If it was possible to hide your source code, why do Microsoft not hide theirs? After all they have their own browser yet they still cannot hide the source of their own page.

I really do not mean any offense by this post and I am certainly not aiming this directly at the thread starter, but I have seen so many posts of this type on many forums over the course of many years, with not one person being able to post a URL that they have hidden their client-side code.

Also, check out http://www.vortex-webdesign.com/help/hidesource.htm

[Wefrucar]

Do NOT disable right clicking. It is SO annoying!
If I'm in a bad mood, and I go to a site that has right-clicking disabled (ESPECIALLY if there's a popup window that says something like "please dont' steal our stuff" which is as annoying as it gets).... I will sometimes just close the site and never go back. Not very often, mind you, but it still is annoying.
It also makes you look like an arrogant idiot, as though your stuff were so special that everyone is just stepping over their mothers to try to steal it.

That said, there is NO WAY you can prevent someone from stealing your images. There's just none. Anyone who wants to, can and will.

The ONLY method of protecting your images, as someone said, is a watermark. Something very light so that it doesn't disturb the image, but strong enough so that it's immediately recognizable as YOURS, and anyone who tried to steal it would be stuck with showing where it really comes from.
You can of course just add a URL at the bottom of the iamge, but that can be edited out easily enough. A watermark is usually far too much work to try to edit out, people who want to put that much effort may as well make their own image.

[SLH-Ken]

Agreed Wef, not like you cant just hit view source and steal those images anyways...... or better yet, use the left click and drag that image to the address page! Thats right! Theres the image! Watch out! Oh no!