Highlighting
Highlighting
[A paragraph of text is shown. The highlight starts away from the leftmost edge of the highlight, and is a different distance to that between the rightmost edge of the highlight and the highlight end. Red X.] [A paragraph is shown. The highlight's starting point, end point, and number of lines included is such that there is an internal square in the middle, illustrated in green. Green tick.] [A paragraph is shown. Not only does it have an internal square, but the distance between the leftmost edge and the highlight start point is the same as the distance between the rightmost edge and the highlight end point. Green tick.] [A paragraph is shown. The entire paragraph is highlighted, making one big rectangle. Green tick.] [A paragraph is shown. The whole paragraph is selected, but the highlight starts away from the leftmost margin. This is shown with a red box, an arrow, and "?!?!". Red X.] [A paragraph is shown. Over the top is overlaid "[Clicking to highlight text is disabled]". Many, many red Xes.] I absentmindedly select random blocks of text as I read, and feel subconsciously satisfied when the highlighted area makes a symmetrical shape.

A number of people find it easier to read long texts by marking their place as they move through the reading. When done on paper, this may be done with a ruler, pencil, or finger. On-screen, however, one of the most effective methods is by highlighting the text being read. People accustomed to this form of reading often do it absentmindedly. Some people simply highlight parts of an article they're consulting without regards to which line they're currently reading, just to occupy their hands.
Highlighting, however, has the potential to create shapes on screen. Randall is referring to the fact that the shapes created may occasionally be symmetrical, which creates satisfaction. Different highlighting patterns may be caused by the user's browser, the site provided, or by simply dragging one's cursor across the screen with the mouse button held down, and releasing at different patterns..
The top example shows tight-fitting highlight syntax, which only covers the text of the paragraph. This is the most common result of highlighting an entire paragraph, but as paragraphs are rarely symmetrical, this example is marked by an X.
The second example starts the highlighting a few words in and continues to the end of the paragraph, while the third example begins another half-word in and continues down a line and a word before ending. Both of these patterns would be caused by manually highlighting the text with the mouse button, rather than rapidly-clicking until a segment is highlighted. The second example forms a square where the three lines of highlighted text overlap, while the third has rotational symmetry of the selected region; both are marked with checks.
The fourth example highlights the entire paragraph, as well as the whitespace caused by the indentation of the paragraph and at the end of the paragraph when the last line does not continue to the opposite margin. This example has both rotational and divisible symmetry, and is marked with a check.
The fifth example highlights the whitespace after the end of the paragraph, but not the whitespace of the indentation, leaving an odd block at the start of it. This ruins the paragraph's symmetry, and so this example is marked with an X.
The bottom example refers to the practice of websites adding a script to disable highlighting, often to discourage readers from copying their content. This creates a great dissatisfaction in readers accustomed to highlight as they read, shown by the many overlapping "X"s. Ironically since the comic is an image, the text in the comic can also not be highlighted.
The title text refers to the practice of websites of adding a script that searches upon clicking any word in the text; most notably done by Yahoo! news in years prior. The search may be of the site, the web, or of an advertisement provider. The script sometimes creates a popup, which, Randall says, causes him to "panic", and consequently never want to return to the site again. It is in fact quite annoying to the occasional highlighter, causing him to lose his place and interrupting his train of thought.
[A paragraph of text is shown. The highlight starts away from the leftmost edge of the highlight, and is a different distance to that between the rightmost edge of the highlight and the highlight end. Red X.] [A paragraph is shown. The highlight's starting point, end point, and number of lines included is such that there is an internal square in the middle, illustrated in green. Green tick.] [A paragraph is shown. Not only does it have an internal square, but the distance between the leftmost edge and the highlight start point is the same as the distance between the rightmost edge and the highlight end point. Green tick.] [A paragraph is shown. The entire paragraph is highlighted, making one big rectangle. Green tick.] [A paragraph is shown. The whole paragraph is selected, but the highlight starts away from the leftmost margin. This is shown with a red box, an arrow, and "?!?!". Red X.] [A paragraph is shown. Over the top is overlaid "[Clicking to highlight text is disabled]". Many, many red Xes.] I absentmindedly select random blocks of text as I read, and feel subconsciously satisfied when the highlighted area makes a symmetrical shape.
