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Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?

ux.stackexchange.com

61–70 of 326 posts

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

#61

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 hotspot for the arrow cursor was not (0,0) but was (1,1). > Can anyone explain why?

My assumption (not having an old Mac or documentation to confirm it...) is that the tip of the cursor had to be at (1, 1) to allow for a pixel's worth of mask around the outer edge of the tip.

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

#62

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…

I was just about to say that.

There's an amazing video by Posy documenting mouse cursor history, and even provides his own cursor pack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg

http://www.michieldb.nl/other/cursors/

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

#64

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…

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?

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

#65
For a better deep dive into mouse cursors with more information, there's Posy's "Mouse Cursor History (and why I made my own)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg

It also shows how absolutely horrid Windows' cursor designs are. They always were. I still remember making my own sets back in the early 2000s when DeviantArt was the home of desktop customization.

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

#66

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…

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 think left handed users do not find it weird as it works in left to right up to down information systems. So unlike with pen they get the same benefit of operating tool sensibly.

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

#67

One compelling reason is so that when pointing at something with the cursor, it doesn't block the thing you're pointing at. If the cursor was mirrored or even centered, hovering over a button would obscure some of the button. This assumes you approach from the bottom right though, which may be in turn because of the cursor's shape-- but I think reading direction is a stronger theory for why you'd want to approach fro…

This was my first reaction as well, but checking how I actually use a mouse I don't think it makes sense. Curious if it's jut me though.

For starters for normal desktop usage like >95% of the time the thing I want to click on isn't under the mouse yet so it doesn't obscure anything. Instead I move the mouse to it and by the time the mouse is there I don't care what is under it anymore because the decision to click it was made already.

Second when the mouse is over something I need to be able to read it seems I tend to move the mouse away (even when it's over text and turns into a straight cursor). The reason being that no matter what cursor is used its lines are typically wider and higher than the lines in rendered characters underneath so always obscures something. In other words: even if the cursor weren't tilted it would still obscure the same amount of surface, but just in a slightly different location. And that's really only slightly so for practical use won't matter.

Wrt where something is approached from: that depends on where the cursr is and where the target is. It would be really interesting to put this in a heatmap from daily usage, but I quickly checked some of the things I access often, like in my bottom taskbar and browser tab bar at the top, and since the things clicked often are both left and right of the screen and my cursor can be seeminlgy anywhere there might still be one approach direction used more but only by some marging.

Lastly most software I checked where obsucring could actually matter (e.g. CAD) uses custom cursors like 1 pixel wide crosses etc, not something tilted.

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

#68
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is tired and uninformed, please just let it die. Apple was issued a design patent which is a real, common thing and is highly specific. It isn’t just patenting a roundrect and calling it a day.

[flagged]

I didn’t know it’s a joke. I’ve heard about Samsung vs Apple long ago, but never learned how it resolved or if it was about just rounded corners. Probably because of ubiquitous and unmarked jokes like this one, combined with no research on my side. I’m not insulted, but I don’t get why people do that. It’s not far from trolls changing opinions on politics or society standards, just less harmful.

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

#69
I'm surprised nobody has posited an "obscurity" rationale.

When the majority of your information is vertical/horizontal (such as text, window elements, etc), an angled cursor makes it easier to interpolate what's underneath. And the arrow shape keeps the bulk of the icon out of the way of your point of interest (compared to, for example, a reticle - although I expect we'd adapt just fine).

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

#70
post #35
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly not sure any explanation is needed here. Early UX design wasn't always done with as much thought and sophistication as today's software designers (are claiming to) apply. The first Windows systems had plenty of UI blunders that make the cursor thing look insignificant by comparison, and I can promise you they weren't all about "visual balance" or similar. Lots of them have carried over to later versions.

> Early UX design wasn't always done with as much thought and sophistication as today's software designers (are claiming to) apply. Oh, but it was. Here's Apple HIG from 1987 listing extensive bibliography on the subject: https://x.com/andy_matuschak/status/1447409175596699652 (here's the full PDF: https://andymatuschak.org/files/papers/Apple%20Human%20Inter... ) Modern "designers" apply as much thought and care as a…

Or here: https://x.com/andy_matuschak/status/1447710247712280578

> there's a (pre-release) 1985 HIG that's quite different. It includes e.g. case studies (useful!), and an extended discussion of Jung's theories of intuition and how they should influence your designs (!!)

The most modern "designers" read is the labels on grocery store items.

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