<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
function onload() {
  window.focus();
  var range = document.createRange();
  range.selectNodeContents(document.getElementById("selectMe"));
  var sel = window.getSelection();
  sel.removeAllRanges();
  sel.addRange(range);
}
</script>
<style type="text/css">
body {
  background: lightGray;
}
div {
  position: absolute;
  top: 10px;
  left: 10px;
  font: 36px monospace;
  color: white;
}
</style>
</head>
<!-- REF case renders the selection first, using &nbsp; to avoid any show-through of glyph edges,
     then the shadowed text on top of that -->
<body onload="onload()">
<div id="selectMe">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>
<div style="text-shadow:1px 1px 1px red;">selected shadowed text</div>
</body>
</html>