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Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

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Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#131

Post by hed »

synecdoche wrote: post #88
arrrg wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you use your mouse with the right hand? I’m also left handed and use the mouse with my right hand, I think mostly because my parents bought a computer table with our first computer that had the spot for the mouse fixed on the right side (keyboard drawer with just enough space for the keyboard alone and below that a little extra drawer to the right to create space for the mousepad and mouse when the keyboard dr…

Holding the mouse in the right hand allows for holding a pen in the left at the same time. I find that, and having the notepad next to the keyboard, to be quite useful. There's also no risk of the notepad being in the way of the mouse movements.

Yep this was like a cheat code when I had to take notes from the computer and could write and scroll simultaneously.

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#132

Post by anthk »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #102
raffraffraff wrote: post #39

Without reading everything there is on the subject, I'd guess it's tilted for the same reason it's tilted to the left . Humans are tool makers and tool users. After enough time the tool becomes an extension of the body, even if the tip of the tool is mechanically or virtually detached from the hand that is controlling it. The tool maker designed this as a right-handed tool, coming into the frame in the right hand. If…

A horizontally flipped (straight edge on the right) cursor does exist, I think some versions of Microsoft Word use it when editing the left margin of a document or something like this. I don't think it's a standard Windows cursor though.

Linux/BSD just have to use "xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr".

OFC you can set that graphically, but this way it's universal.

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#133

Post by sobellian »

Stratoscope wrote: post #44

It's a bit scary to see that one of the highest-voted answers to this question (188 points) is completely wrong. It says that the (0,0) hotspot simplified the calculations for a cursor position update, because you didn't have to add any (X,Y) offset. https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/52349/43259 The problem with this idea is that the arrow pointer was never the only cursor. On the first Macintosh, there were many others…

The second-highest answer is an incorrect just-so myth. It even includes a screenshot of the historically correct answer!

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#134

Post by naasking »

raffraffraff wrote: post #39

Without reading everything there is on the subject, I'd guess it's tilted for the same reason it's tilted to the left . Humans are tool makers and tool users. After enough time the tool becomes an extension of the body, even if the tip of the tool is mechanically or virtually detached from the hand that is controlling it. The tool maker designed this as a right-handed tool, coming into the frame in the right hand. If…

> It doesn't just look wrong, it feels wrong because it looks like a tool held in the left hand.

It feels foreign only for a little bit. I'm right-handed but started developing RSI in my right wrist from using the mouse with that hand, so I've been using my left hand for over a decade now and no issues. The brain is very adaptable. For instance, we very quickly adapt to seeing the world upside down:

https://theguardian.com/education/2012/nov/12/improbable-res...

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#135

Post by deadbabe »

speff wrote: post #123
Stratoscope wrote: post #44

It's a bit scary to see that one of the highest-voted answers to this question (188 points) is completely wrong. It says that the (0,0) hotspot simplified the calculations for a cursor position update, because you didn't have to add any (X,Y) offset. https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/52349/43259 The problem with this idea is that the arrow pointer was never the only cursor. On the first Macintosh, there were many others…

It's only scary at the beginning. Then you get used to it. Every single social media site - including HN - has uninformed people agreeing that a correct-sounding answer must be right. My friend the tax accountant gets downvoted for clarifying how taxes actually work. My wife the linguist gets downvotes for explaining no that's not how language works. It's not scary - it's typical.

Hackernews is similar to ChatGPT in that regard. Lots of correct sounding answers that are really just a word salad.

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#136

Post by Findecanor »

Cockbrand wrote: post #100

I'd like to add to all of the reasons I find valid (not obscuring what one is pointing at, mimicking pointing with a finger) that everything displayed on the screen is pretty much perpendicular to the x or y axis. The tilted cursor thus sticks out among the rest of the content. As an aside, as a typical Amiga quirk, the early Amiga mouse cursor was tilted in a 45° angle to the x axis, contrary to all the other popula…

I'd think that the original Amiga arrow pointer could have got its stubby style because hardware sprite could only be in low resolution and 2:1-stepped lines did not look very good.

The style was changed to a sharper point in Amiga OS 2.0 but it was still slanted 45°. First on the Amiga 1200/4000 with AGA could you get a high-resolution mouse pointer.

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#137

Post by bondarchuk »

xattt wrote: post #92
webignition wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm left handed and have always used the mouse with my left hand. The tilt on the cursor has never seemed odd or wrong or strange to me in any way. I've been using computer mice in one way or another for more than 30 years and perhaps a lack of oddness comes from having so very much gotten used to it. Maybe newer left-handed mouse users would find the cursor tilt strange?

> The tilt on the cursor has never seemed odd or wrong or strange to me in any way. Not sure if people realize, but this setting is changeable, probably since the times of single-digit Windows.

Ohh now I remember! Back when we didn't have internet and I could amuse myself for hours just messing with the windows 98 settings.

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#139

Post by MenhirMike »

speff wrote: post #123
Stratoscope wrote: post #44

It's a bit scary to see that one of the highest-voted answers to this question (188 points) is completely wrong. It says that the (0,0) hotspot simplified the calculations for a cursor position update, because you didn't have to add any (X,Y) offset. https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/52349/43259 The problem with this idea is that the arrow pointer was never the only cursor. On the first Macintosh, there were many others…

It's only scary at the beginning. Then you get used to it. Every single social media site - including HN - has uninformed people agreeing that a correct-sounding answer must be right. My friend the tax accountant gets downvoted for clarifying how taxes actually work. My wife the linguist gets downvotes for explaining no that's not how language works. It's not scary - it's typical.

> my friend the tax accountant gets downvoted for clarifying how taxes actually work.

Let me guess: Tax brackets? That's the one thing that most regular workers in the US just don't seem to understand (and arguably, many people knowingly spread falsehoods to further some agenda).

Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

#140

Post by alamortsubite »

silon42 wrote: post #99
webignition wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm left handed and have always used the mouse with my left hand. The tilt on the cursor has never seemed odd or wrong or strange to me in any way. I've been using computer mice in one way or another for more than 30 years and perhaps a lack of oddness comes from having so very much gotten used to it. Maybe newer left-handed mouse users would find the cursor tilt strange?

I have a mouse on each side of the keyboard, so changing the mouse pointer shape was never even considered.

It might be fun to set up your system to switch between left and right-tilted cursors automatically, depending on which mouse you're using.
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