Ask HN: Since when has copy/pasting images "just worked"?

2 points by collectedparts 2 years ago | 4 comments

I've recently found that copy/pasting images just works in a surprising number of contexts:

* MacOS: on Chrome, "copy" image, "paste" into Twitter composer on Chrome

* iOS: on Safari, "copy" image, then go to WhatsApp native app and "paste" image

One small detail I've noticed is that on MacOS/Chrome, GIFs pasted into web WhatsApp end up getting pasted as just a still image. On iOS, GIFs pasted from Safari to native WhatsApp get pasted as GIFs.

I'm not complaining, it's legitimately useful, but it just feels like it happened suddenly, even though arguably it'd require support from various players. Did I just miss something?

More generally, if it's now trivial to share content in private message threads via copy/paste vs needing to share a link to the underlying content, that would seem to be yet another hit to the ability of content creators to control and monetize their content.

ksherlock 2 years ago |

MDN says the ClipboardEvent (used for this sort of thing) was implemented between 2013 (FireFox) and 2017 (Safari).

nh23423fefe 2 years ago |

creators never had control of their content. if you send me bits they are my bits.

mac3n 2 years ago |

copy/paste images was a demo feature in the original 128k Macintosh.

cranberryturkey 2 years ago |

i noticed it about a year ago.