Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!ima!haddock!eli
From: eli@haddock.ISC.COM (Elias Israel)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: The morality of warping the cursor
Message-ID: <4821@haddock.ISC.COM>
Date: 29 Jun 88 02:51:04 GMT
References: <4390@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: eli@haddock.ima.isc.com (Elias Israel)
Organization: Interactive Systems, Boston
Lines: 35

In article <4390@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU> josh@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU (Joshua Marantz) writes:
>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.

My experience with warping cursors comes not from X, but from the
Apollo DM, which routinely moves the cursor out from under your hand.
I think it's "immoral" to warp the cursor for the simple reason that the
new cursor position will no longer correspond to the position of the
user's hand. Example: I move the cursor to the upper left to select an
icon to de-iconify. When I do it, the DM warps the cursor to the bottom
line of the window thus created, moving it more than 3/4 of the way
across the screen. Now my hand is in the upper left of my mouse pad and
the cursor is much nearer to the lower right. I find this very
annoying.

I also dislike warping cursors for a more philosophical reason. I do not
like machines (or programs) that presume to know what I, the human, am
up to. Going back to the Apollo DM example, I often keep a number of
manual pages in iconified windows at the top of the screen. Sometimes, I
like to open up a number of them for examination. Without the warping
cursor, I could simply select and de-iconify each one in turn. Because
the DM warps the cursor to the bottom line of every window as it is
opened, I have to lift the mouse, reposition it, and drag all the way
back for each icon that I want to de-iconify. The window manager should
just let me move the cursor as I see fit.

I've never met a warp that I liked. Perhaps I haven't met any of the
really good ones.

Elias Israel		   | "Justice, n. A commodity which in more or
Interactive Systems Corp.  | less adulterated condition the State sells
Boston, MA		   | to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance,
..!ima!haddock!eli	   | taxes, and personal service."
			   |     -- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_