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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?

#91

Post by rezonant »

account-5 wrote: post #75
wruza wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I was replying with a flippant joke to what I took to be a flippant remark/joke about the windows pointer not being "perfect" like Apple's pointer supposedly is. The fact the post I replied to garnered no similar criticism to my flippant remark shows more about the culture on HN than anything else. That seemingly being: critise everything but Apple, Apple is off limits unless you're hear to fawn over them. This is cu…

I wouldn't stress it. Your karma's not going to disappear because a few people can't take (or didn't like, or didn't get) your joke :-)

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

#92

Post by xattt »

webignition wrote: post #64
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…

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.

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

#93

Post by rezonant »

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.

I dunno, looks like a rounded rectangle to me [1]

Besides, if Apple was allowed to patent rounded rectangles more, they absolutely would.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2012/11/7/3614506/apple-patents-rec...

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

#94

Post by account-5 »

rezonant wrote: post #91
account-5 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was replying with a flippant joke to what I took to be a flippant remark/joke about the windows pointer not being "perfect" like Apple's pointer supposedly is. The fact the post I replied to garnered no similar criticism to my flippant remark shows more about the culture on HN than anything else. That seemingly being: critise everything but Apple, Apple is off limits unless you're hear to fawn over them. This is cu…

I wouldn't stress it. Your karma's not going to disappear because a few people can't take (or didn't like, or didn't get) your joke :-)

Haha, yeah I mentioned it more out of interest. My karma has fluctuated between ±10 since my initial comment. Currently about where I started. I genuinely find the phenomenon interesting, I've never really understood the blind loyalty apple endears in its fans.

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

#95

Post by gsich »

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.

Moving a mouse is also relatively easy compared to writing with the other hand.

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

#96

Post by Stratoscope »

zb wrote: post #60
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 arrow has a white outline around it, so the hotspot is at the tip of the black arrow, at (1,1).

Bingo! Now that you jogged my memory, I can confirm this.

The next question is why you need a white outline around the black arrow.

This is easy to answer: if you didn't do that, what would the black arrow look like against a black background?

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

#98

Post by iforgotpassword »

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…

This might seem odd for the youngsters having grown up with their own smartphone and laptop, but I very quickly found it annoying having to rearrange everybody's setup when using their computer. Friends, family, school, you name it...

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

#99

Post by silon42 »

webignition wrote: post #64
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…

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.

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

#100

Post by Cockbrand »

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 popular GUIs with more acute angles for the cursor. And there was a built-in tool for creating custom mouse cursors, which I personally loved. See for example http://toastytech.com/guis/amiga12.html

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