[sugar] Finding cursors. Ripples in a puddle?

[Sayamindu Dasgupta]

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 11:47 PM, Erik Garrison <erik at laptop.org> 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]