[haiku] the new link cursor, and mouse cursors in general.

  • From: Justin Stressman <jstressman@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: haiku@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:15:04 -0400

I've been looking at the new link cursor, and while stippi did an excellent
job with it (and the other cursors in general), something about it just
hasn't been sitting right with me.

So I was thinking and trying to figure out what bothered me about it and I
think it was 2 things...

First, and less of an issue I think was that arrow pointed 90 degrees away
from the finger... rather trivial, I know. ;)

Second, and I think more the main point... was that there wasn't as much of
a visual change when you moused over a link as I was used to.

If we consider the differences between the normal pointer and link cursor in
the other main OSes, they all seem to share the fact that they fully change
shape and orientation rather clearly when mousing over a link... so that
even at a glance, or more peripherally in your vision, you can see that the
cursor is changing to show that you're over a link.

With the new Haiku link cursor it's a little harder to see this difference,
and at least for myself I have to look more closely directly at the cursor
itself to see the difference.

Like looking at a spot on the page an inch or two away and using my slightly
peripheral vision to navigate to a link while I continue reading... or even
mousing over a long link where your eyes might just be focused on the whole
link in a general sense and your eyes are just waiting to visually register
the cursor change as you mouse over it before clicking... rather than having
to focus more specifically on the cursor itself.

It's hard to explain, but it's something I've really noticed since starting
to use Haiku... that I've had to focus a lot more closely on the mouse
cursor itself when navigating links etc... a bit disconcerting coming from
Mac, Linux, Windows, etc.

I think it's because the overall shape of the cursor doesn't change, and
only a smaller part of it does, so it doesn't register as easily. Also, I
think the other mouse cursors kind of give the feel of a potential for
action... changing from the default arrow to a finger pointing up at a link
that it's about to click on to activate it. Maybe it's just something we've
gotten used to, but I think in recent years we have really come to expect
that kind of easily recognizable visual indication of potential for action,
and when it's missing it throws us off a bit like we're not doing something
right. (I'm sure there will be some disagreement with this) :P

As a result of this, I was piddling around with the cursor graphics to see
if I could come up with something that would be a little more easily
noticeable on mousing over a link, while still being a bit of an homage to
the original BeOS link cursor. (bottom right)

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/phreadom/haiku/pointers6.png<http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/phreadom/haiku/pointers5.png>

Admittedly it's not nearly the level of quality as stippi's, but I was just
trying to give an idea of what I was thinking to see what others might
think?

Beyond that specific point, I was talking about this in #haiku and it seems
that the popular consensus is that many people still prefer the generic
arrow pointer for general mousing over the little hand, saying that the
generic arrow pointer is less busy. It does the job of pointing without
going the extra step of being a whole hand.

This made me think about whether or not BeOS, and by extension Haiku, were
just using the hand to be different... or whether there was a valid reason
for not using the arrow like everyone else. Sometimes being different just
for the sake of being different isn't necessarily a good thing.

-- 
"You don't use science to show you're right, you use science to become
right." --xkcd

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