On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 11:47 PM, Erik Garrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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. >
IIRC, one of the GUI bling thingies (Compiz/Beryl) used to implement this kind of thing at some point. Thanks, Sayamindu -- Sayamindu Dasgupta [http://sayamindu.randomink.org/ramblings] _______________________________________________ Sugar mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
