Is anyone else having this issue?
I can't seem to select text in webpages using either Safari or Chrome. It doesn't matter whether I interact in the text or not. VO + Enter doesn't work, neither does Option + Shift + Arrow keys or Command + Shift + Arrow keys.
It's extremely frustrating.
Comments
QuickNav?
So, I notice this issue for myself whenever I forget I am using 'QuickNav' (Press both Left and Right arrows together). Therefore my first question is, "are" you using QuickNav? My next question would be what version of macOS are you rocking? Finally, do you have any custom Applescripts and/or Keyboard Commander controls that would be overriding your ability to select text?
Just a fyi, I am using latest build of Ventura (13.5.1) on an unsupported MBP to write this post, and I can select the text from your original post just fine.... so long as QuickNav is disabled.
HTH. 😃
Response
I don't think I'd have QuickNav on, but I can double-check. No script/commanders and latest version of Ventura :)
Edited to add: No luck with either QuickNav on or off...
My experience
I routinely find that text selection in Safari will spontaneously stop working for no obvious reason and that I need to restart VoiceOver to get it back working. And, yes, this is with QuickNav disabled.
This is just one among the many enduring VoiceOver niggles that you end up simply having to live with 🤷
Text Selection
No way you can select text in Google Chrome or Firefox. The only way is with Safari. You need to use the shift and the options keys with the left, right, down and up arrows to select text. Now if you are really stuck, then save the web page as TXT then open it with TextEdit and you will be good to go.
Oh weird, I can do it both on Safari and Brave
As said, I have just double-checked, first on Brave, which is written on Chromium and thus I don't expect it to be vastly different from Chrome itself but please take it with a grain of salt, and later on Safari.
Something to note though:
1. Please make sure you have enabled the option called "Always allow keyboard commands to navigate websites", which can be found in Voice Over Utilities » Web Category » Navigation Tab. Note that if you don't like to have this option enabled (for reasons such as to frequently interact directly with specific pages for example), you could try the trick of having the last spoken phrase copied to the clipboard. The shortcut for this function is VO+Shift+C.
2. For Brave, I do have the option called Caret Browsing turned on. To do it, please have your focus on a web page area, then press F7. By default, it should have this dialogue: "You can navigate pages with a text cursor. Press F7 to turn off.", navigate to and press the Done Button to verify you mean to turn the Caret Browsing on.
If you need more detailed explanation, please just let me know.