On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 08:27:26PM -0500, Ken Ritchie wrote: > Does anyone else recall recurring debates about cursor size and the effect > on one's ability to visually discover the location of a cursor? Yes, there > are tradeoffs between simply making cursors larger (easier to discover > location) or making cursors smaller (easier to place precisely, eclipses > fewer pixels)...especially when the pointing devices are other than by > directly touching the display screen. Such is the case with the present XO > laptops. > > To sidestep those debates, I imagine a different way -- one in which cursors > could be of any size, color, shape, etc. -- and yet still draw my eye > quickly to the locus of the current cursor. > > > VISION: Each time my finger tip lands on the touch pad I see a circular > wavefront (on the display, of course) briefly emanating from the point of > the cursor. The wave gently fades as it grows and dissipates. Thus, it > appears as if the screen is overlaid with a clear puddle and I have lightly > touched its surface. The effect could be simulated with a simple ring; > probably a simpler and cheaper computation than a "wave" effect. A bitblt > series would do. > > > Like ripples in a puddle, the visual effect and conceptual metaphor would > seem to draw on nearly universal human experience from early childhood. Of > course, the HCI labs around the world could experiment with such effects (if > not already) to understand the human factors and optimize the man-machine > interface. Meanwhile, it seems worth trying, pragmatically. > ;-)
Back in the olden-days, when I used windows, I remember a function which would make it so pressing both control keys would highlight the mouse by making little concentric rings around it. I doubt it would be very difficult to do if you were interested in a bit of Xlib hacking. Erik _______________________________________________ Sugar mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
