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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?

#81

Post by Moru »

rightbyte wrote: post #74
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?

Oh dear. I am left handed and I have not even considered the arrow is tilting the wrong way. Now suddenly it annoys me to no end. I need to replace my cursor ...

35-40 years ago I had to switch to left because of too much strain on the right hand. I was very happy when I found a way to mirror my cursor. Am back to right hand now though.

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

#82

Post by arrrg »

vasco wrote: post #55
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…

What matters is the hand you use your mouse with, I'm left handed for writing and most things but use the right hand for the mouse and it doesn't feel strange.

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 drawer is open). So I had to learn using the computer that way …

Seems inconsiderate from my parents, but I think they just didn’t think about that aspect.

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

#83

Post by _moof »

rightbyte wrote: post #74
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?

Oh dear. I am left handed and I have not even considered the arrow is tilting the wrong way. Now suddenly it annoys me to no end. I need to replace my cursor ...

Just wait until you find out why scroll bars are on the right.

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

#84

Post by hacb »

vintagedave wrote: post #19

Time for one of my favourite Youtube videos, by Posy (Michiel de Boer.) 'Mouse cursor history (and why I made my own).' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg It runs through the history of mouse cursors, as well as problems with some of the standard ones, and shows, among other things, historical cursors which were straight and not tilted. It is one of those amazing videos that make the internet worthwhile, is…

It was really interesting and well-made, thanks for sharing!

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

#85

Post by kuschku »

stouset wrote: post #33
account-5 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

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.

Design patents, except for highly specific names and logos, shouldn't be a thing.

Luckily the LEGO case has already shown that any design patent that even slightly affects functionality is automatically invalid.

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

#86

Post by shahzaibmushtaq »

I agree with all the reasons mentioned ranging from calculating the vertex position - sharp tip of the arrow (x, y) to the pixel issue (low resolution on older machines) to the right-hand pointing direction.

For all practical purposes, I observed 2 other things.

The first is that English is written left to write. If you ever had the experience of using a different language that starts from right to left, this same arrow feels weird.

And the second is a little activity experience.

1. Arrange the 4 files in a square box, 2 up 2 down

2. Notice that as soon as the sharp point of the arrow touches any file boundary, the arrow can select the file by a pixel difference that you can't with a straight arrow (ease of use)

3. It also takes a constant number of operations (best case scenario) compared to the straight arrow where the algorithm has to decide based on the percentage of how much of the straight arrow shape hovers over another file to select

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

#87

Post by NamTaf »

martopix wrote: post #80
papichulo2023 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only tool I find hard to use, as a left handed, is scissors, the rest is just fine. As for the mouse, always used it with the right hand.

I'm also left handed and don't usually have a problem with scissors, unless they're bad quality scissors. I also use the mouse with my right hand and I'm always surprised by how many left-handers actually ended up using the mouse with the right. It's quite strange. Even stranger, was a right-handed colleague who decided to use the mouse with her left.

Bad quality scissors will invariably suck for lefties because the grip of a left hand pushes the blades apart, vs. with a right it pulls them together. Scissors are my #1 gripe as a leftie too.

I use the mouse with my right because the rest of my family is right-handed so it was on the right and I just learnt by copying. I don't mind it, as I can type fairly reasonably one-handed with my left hand - much better than I could with my right - so it means I can still do short typing bursts one-handed without lifting my right hand off the mouse. When I type with two hands, I find my left covers about 60-70% of the keyboard vs. my right doing about 30-40% of the keyboard.

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

#88

Post by synecdoche »

arrrg wrote: post #82
vasco wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What matters is the hand you use your mouse with, I'm left handed for writing and most things but use the right hand for the mouse and it doesn't feel strange.

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.

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

#89

Post by rtpg »

arrrg wrote: post #82
vasco wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What matters is the hand you use your mouse with, I'm left handed for writing and most things but use the right hand for the mouse and it doesn't feel strange.

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…

I use the mouse on the right mostly because stuff like games assume you’re doing that, so keyboard controls and the like are optimized for it

Also, most computers lay the mouse that way

I could mess with this but ultimately I don’t mind too much. Maybe it explains why I’m bad at FPSes! Probably not.

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

#90

Post by robinhouston »

p-e-w wrote: post #9
simondotau wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web page which that image is sourced from[0] and the reddit page it is in turn sourced from[1] makes a lot of hand-wavey analogies to optical balancing (which is a real phenomenon[2]) but doesn't make any compelling arguments for why they apply in this specific case. An alternative explanation is that this intentional imperfection exists to match the unavoidable imperfection which occurred when the cursor graphic…

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.

I think the apparent contradictions here can be explained quite easily: Apple cared about design, and Microsoft did not.

Looking back from an era in which Apple's sensibility has prevailed, it's quite hard to explain the extent to which Microsoft, at least until the late '90s, really didn't care whether their software looked good. They genuinely didn't see it as important.

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