[comp.sys.mac] Setting cursor position and mouse s

dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (01/28/88)

In article <888@thorin.cs.unc.edu> steele@unc.UUCP (Oliver Steele) writes:
>
>...constraining to a grid,
>in many programs, makes the mouse street-wise*; but constraining tool
>motion to an axis doesn't constrain the cursor to that axis.  

lsr@apple replies:
>I think the philosophy should be that the user is in control of the mouse
>and the cursor.  Therefore, the user can move the cursor anywhere on the
>screen (even between grid points).
>
>If the program has some sort of gridding on, then it acts as a constraint on
>the object being manipulated and not on the cursor position...

All right, now the user is in control of the cursor.  But the cursor no
longer points to the appropriate place in the screen (the grid point).  In
obeying one rule, we've broken another.

In my opinion, the cursor should point where action is going to take place,
even if it means the cursor ``jumps'' from point to point.  As a user, I
find this behavior very reassuring--I have no doubts where my line is going
to be.
----
Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office
Internet: dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu  UUCP: ihnp4!uiucuxc!dorner
IfUMust:  (217) 333-3339