Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

unsung.aresluna.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 49 posts

Re: Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

#11

Post by LatencyKills »

mrob wrote: post #9
LatencyKills wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But if it's windowed then it should be impossible. I worked on several apps for the visually impaired that automatically move the mouse cursor to different UI elements in the front-most application, regardless of the window state. It’s a good reminder that “impossible” often just means “I haven’t accounted for that use case yet.”

If it's part of the OS's standard accessibility framework then it's acceptable. The important point is that applications shouldn't be able to arbitrarily move the mouse in situations when it's unexpected.

> The important point is that applications shouldn't be able to arbitrarily move the mouse in situations when it's unexpected.

That is quite a different statement from "It should be impossible." What should be impossible is for the OS to prevent this type of usage when it is clearly useful. Beyond accessibility, I use these features to automate testing of native macOS GUI apps.

Re: Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

#13

Post by amenghra »

mrob wrote: post #4

Software moving the mouse cursor is only acceptable when the window is full-screen. If the user makes an application go full-screen, they are opting out of the normal desktop UI conventions. It's expected that full-screen software completely takes over the UI, and there are legitimate uses for moving the mouse cursor in full-screen software, e.g. centering an invisible cursor every frame in a first-person shooter gam…

Blender (3D modeling & animation software) implements this cool thing when rotating/resizing objects: if the mouse cursor moves out of the window it reappears on the other side (enabling resizing/rotating ad infinitum).

Re: Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

#14

Post by xg15 »

From the counter argument:

> as a matter of fact, there is something really interesting about a mouse pointer feeling less like a deity floating above it all, and more like a regular in-game actor.

My counter-counter argument would be a general principle for UX designers: Are you designing a game or a tool? If you're designing a tool, don't put cutscenes in your software.

I think games are special, because their explicit purpose is to deliver an experience and often also tell a story. Within that context, I'm fine with having control restricted or yanked away if it's in service of something meaningful in the game.

The same is not true for tools (even in-game tools actually), where I want to complete some kind of task in the most efficient way possible - and often only I know the context of that task.

Unfortunately, that stuff has already seeped into UX design in a lot of forms, in particular as random "new feature" popups that usually appear at the worst possible moment and cannot be shown again. In situations like this, I'd value predictability much more than the coolness factor of a game-like UI.

Re: Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

#15

Post by drfloyd51 »

Somewhat related, but useful?: I setup AutoHotKey to, after I use alt+tab to switch to a new window, AHK will move the mouse the center of newly activated window.

Turns out it’s handy. After switching apps the cursor is in a defined location and closer to anything I want to click.

It’s weird but it works for me.

Re: Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

#16

Post by mrob »

amenghra wrote: post #13
mrob wrote: post #4

Software moving the mouse cursor is only acceptable when the window is full-screen. If the user makes an application go full-screen, they are opting out of the normal desktop UI conventions. It's expected that full-screen software completely takes over the UI, and there are legitimate uses for moving the mouse cursor in full-screen software, e.g. centering an invisible cursor every frame in a first-person shooter gam…

Blender (3D modeling & animation software) implements this cool thing when rotating/resizing objects: if the mouse cursor moves out of the window it reappears on the other side (enabling resizing/rotating ad infinitum).

I think a better way to implement that feature would be a mechanism for programs to temporarily enable off-screen mouse cursors. This should also track the position where the cursor would be if it had been clipped to the screen boundary as normal, and immediately return the cursor to that position when the off-screen mode ends. Note that the OS returns the cursor, not the application, so applications can't abuse this mechanism for repositioning the cursor.

Re: Mouse Pointer as a Mere Mortal

#19

Post by simoncion »

ano-ther wrote: post #7

Windows has a “snap to default button“ setting which does the same. Saves you a bit of movement on large screens, but since it jumps it doesn’t lead the eyes which makes is disorienting.

> ...but since it jumps it doesn’t lead the eyes which makes is disorienting.

What happens when you enable "mouse pointer trails"? Or is that a feature that died like a decade or two after manufacturers stopped using the extremely slow LCDs that made use of the feature all but mandatory on machines that used them?

Post reply on HN