[sugar] Finding cursors. Ripples in a puddle?

[Erik Garrison]

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