I was looking up web developer portfolios on (( the other site )) and came across this one: https://m7mad.dev/

It has a target for the cursor instead of a mouse. While I think most modern web developers do a lot of unnecessary bullshit to “show off” and justify their existence, this particular design got me thinking.

Why do we have a “mouse” for a cursor? Does it really make more sense than have a target similar to the one on this site?

I think most of us don’t even bother to question it, myself included, but it might just be one of those weird relics of the past that we accepted because we thought others knew more than us.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    2 days ago

    In the early days of Windows, it was semi-common for people to customize their cursors. You’d see some pretty weird and fun stuff sometimes.

    I think Windows becoming the standard locked-down for work platform contributed to stifling that creative impulse in users.

    • hesh@quokk.auEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      Windows really had a character and fun to it for a brief window

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Also there was a lot of mouse cursor shovelware and malware that would hijack your browser. The reason it went away is because everyone kept installing malware on their work computers and we had to shut that shit down. Corporate virus scanners contributed more to killing custom mouse cursors than Microsoft did.