Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpda!hp-sde!hpfcdc!hpfclp!diamant From: diamant@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM (John Diamant) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: The morality of warping the cursor Message-ID: <9740034@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM> Date: 28 Jun 88 22:03:47 GMT References: <4390@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU> Organization: HP SDE, Fort Collins, CO Lines: 24 > There have been a couple of articles where people have stated > absolutely that warping the cursor is bad user interface policy; that > users should have exclusive control of the cursor at all times. > > I am interested in why people feel this way. I personally feel that > intelligent warping on the part of the application can greatly enhance > a user interface. I think I'm the one that started this (in comp.windows.misc, but it drifted over here, apparently). Anyway, I originally stated that warping the pointer was bad. After some discussion, I revised to comment to instead be that changing the user's focus is bad. So, if the warping is a direct result of a user action, and the input focus and pointer remain (logically) where the user put them, then I see no problem. It's mainly an issue of "principle of least astonishment"). If you are merely following through on a user action, then it may be appropriate. One person in this debate pointed out that this is fine for locators that use relative addressing, but an absolute locator device (a graphics tablet) is hosed if you ever warp the mouse. John Diamant Software Development Environments Hewlett-Packard Co. ARPA Internet: diamant@hpfclp.sde.hp.com Fort Collins, CO UUCP: {hplabs,hpfcla}!hpfclp!diamant