Hi, just used some images and saw that by default the image protection is switched off. Is there a reason why it is not switched on by default? Makes a lot of sense to protect the images from my point of view.
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Hi @WeaverPixel
Sorry to be the ugly duckling here (I’m used to it 
) but online image protection is as effective as the principle of obfuscation today. 
And that is saying something. 
(I love emojis)
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Hi @Bruno, I was expecting such a comment 
, and it is clear that it comes from you , I by the way also love emojis 
To get serious 
. I am aware that this kind of protection is extremely basic, but why not using it as standard setting is not clear to me. Currently I have to set the protection for every picture. What means I will forget it most of the times.
Is there a disadvantage to use this protection?
Hi again @WeaverPixel
Image protection in RapidWeaver Elements is basic and mostly acts as a deterrent rather than a secure solution. It is not enabled by default probably because it can impact user experience by disabling right-click functionality and potentially affecting accessibility. Additionally, such protection can be easily bypassed by anyone with basic browser knowledge. If you often forget to enable it, you might consider suggesting a global setting to the developers 
or using a custom script to apply the protection automatically. However, for true protection, adding watermarks to your images is a more effective approach. Repeated use of JavaScript for such features can also add unnecessary performance overhead to your site, particularly if it is image-heavy, potentially slowing down load times and impacting user satisfaction. I think that’s the main reason to avoid this too frequently (not sure my English is correct here 
)
Ahh, I was not aware about the repeated use of Javascript. Thanks for the explanation @Bruno. So maybe @dan and the team can implement a kind of global setting.
Btw: for my own sites I am always working with a kind of watermark. I have a travel photo blog and you won’t believe how often I find my photos on other websites. And its only a small, private travel blog.
Image protection on the web is inherently challenging because of how the internet and browsers work. When you display an image on a webpage, it is delivered to the user’s device, which makes it nearly impossible to completely prevent copying or saving.
To display an image, a browser downloads it to the user’s device temporarily. This means the user already has access to the image file, even if it’s not directly visible in the file system.
The protection in Elements (and other apps) is a deterrent for the lay person, any mildly technical person will be able to download the source file.
Even if you watermark the image, it’s pretty trivial these days to remove it with Photoshop and yes, AI Image tools.
Ultimately, while you can make it inconvenient for users to download images, you cannot fully prevent it. Image protection online is less about making copying impossible and more about increasing the effort required to deter casual misuse.
I have a gallery app that I use with classic that just stops a right click which is a good deterrent!.
Hi @dan, I fully understand (now much better) the limits of this function.
But the core question is, we have such a setting, but we have to switch it on for every single picture. That makes it a bit senseless. Why not activating it by default or even better what @Bruno suggested implement it as a global function maybe in the project settings? Then its activated/deactivated with one click