Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
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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?
#2I remember windows 3.1 had a utility for drawing custom cursors. I had great fun making cursors (I was around 10 at the time I guess) and had completed forgotten about it until now!
I think that utility was a 16x16 grid, and indeed the easiest to see arrows utilsed the vertical, although actually a cursor which uses the horizontal and diagonal isn't bad either.
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#3I remember windows 3.1 had a utility for drawing custom cursors. I had great fun making cursors (I was around 10 at the time I guess) and had completed forgotten about it until now! I think that utility was a 16x16 grid, and indeed the easiest to see arrows utilsed the vertical, although actually a cursor which uses the horizontal and diagonal isn't bad either.
The Commodore Amiga had something similar along with an early 'double 90 degree' cursor [1] and a 1/2 pixel ratio cursor in later versions if the OS [2]. Both are pretty delightful :)
[1] http://toastytech.com/guis/amiga1cplpointer.png [2] http://geekometry.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/amigaos204-...
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#4I remember windows 3.1 had a utility for drawing custom cursors. I had great fun making cursors (I was around 10 at the time I guess) and had completed forgotten about it until now! I think that utility was a 16x16 grid, and indeed the easiest to see arrows utilsed the vertical, although actually a cursor which uses the horizontal and diagonal isn't bad either.
I made my "hourglass" into a space shuttle taking off. Woo! Fire! :) I was about 12.
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#5pointer
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#6I always assumed because the point of the diagonal arrow cursor is located at 0,0 in the image, making the origin location of the mouse cursor image and the click point of the arrow the same. Whereas with any vertical arrow cursor, the click point would no longer line up with 0,0.
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#7pointer
Actually, I'm wrong. Turns out pointer and caret are subclasses of cursor, and "mouse cursor" is perfectly acceptable to refer to the former. You learn something by being a petty smartass :)
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#8pointer
[deleted]
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#9I always assumed because the point of the diagonal arrow cursor is located at 0,0 in the image, making the origin location of the mouse cursor image and the click point of the arrow the same. Whereas with any vertical arrow cursor, the click point would no longer line up with 0,0.
That could have been an issue with the PARC machine that OP claims started the trend, but with any OS after that (including the original Mac), you can specify the cursor hotspot when designing the cursor (look at your I-beam cursor for instance)
Re: Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
#10I always assumed because the point of the diagonal arrow cursor is located at 0,0 in the image, making the origin location of the mouse cursor image and the click point of the arrow the same. Whereas with any vertical arrow cursor, the click point would no longer line up with 0,0.
This is true for most default cursors, but custom cursor file formats let you change the coordinates of the active pixel (see: 'left-handed' mirrored arrow cursors, or crosshair-type ones.). The link 'finger' cursor on most OSes is a default example where the active pixel isn't the top-left one.