[sugar] Finding cursors. Ripples in a puddle?

[Ken Ritchie]

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.
;-)

Cheers,
-Ken Ritchie (Atlanta)
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