Cursor (user interface): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:24, 15 October 2024

Revision as of 11:36, 15 October 2024

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* When displaying a document, the pointer can appear as a hand with all fingers extended allowing scrolling by ''pushing'' the displayed page around.

* Graphics-editing pointers such as brushes, pencils, or paint buckets may display when the user edits an image.

* On an edge or corner of a [[window (computing)|window]] the pointer usually changes into a double arrow (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) indicating that the user can drag the edge/corner in an indicated direction to adjust the size and shape of the window. Double arrows are similarly used with movable dividers when a window is split into two or more parts.

* The corners and edges of the whole screen may also act as [[screen hotspot]]s. According to [[Fitts's law]], which predicts the time it takes to reach a target area, moving mouse and stylus pointers to those spots is easy and fast. As the pointer usually stops when reaching a screen edge, the size of those spots can be considered of virtual infinite size, so the hot corners and edges can be reached quickly by throwing the pointer toward the edges.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://particletree.com/features/visualizing-fittss-law/ |title=Visualizing Fitts' Law |first=Kevin |last=Hale |website=Particle Tree |date=3 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/08/fitts-law-and-infinite-width.html |title=Fitts' Law and Infinite Width |first=Jeff |last=Atwood |author-link=Jeff Atwood |website=Coding Horror |date=9 August 2006 |access-date=2021-04-07 |archive-date=2014-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214030831/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/08/fitts-law-and-infinite-width.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

* While a computer process is performing tasks and cannot accept user input, a wait pointer (an [[hourglass]] in [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] before [[Windows Vista|Vista]] and many other systems, a spinning ring in [[Windows Vista]] and later, a watch in [[classic Mac OS]], or a [[spinning pinwheel]] in macOS) is displayed when the mouse pointer is in the corresponding window.