Saturday, March 27, 2010

cursor help


Re the issue of the disappearing cursor (getting hard to find in the wilderness of two 30-inch monitors), I found a solution (Mouse Locator) which put colored rings around it for visibility. Those it came with were a bit broad and garish, though, so I summoned up a host of expensive Adobe apps and my meager designer skills and made a two-ring system for myself. Slender and attractive, but still quite visible. A black and a white ring, so on is always visible no matter the background. Yes, not just a pretty hat-stand, my friends.

(Since screen capture does not capture the cursor, I simply photographed the screen, with my trusty Canon S90 in macro mode.)

It's actually a relief not have to make a mouse-waving game of finding the durn cursor fifty times a day. And I feel the rings will not be distracting.

9 comments:

Philocalist said...

Erm ... this may be / is probably an option available to you with your mouse software (at least it always has been with mine (Logitech mouses (mice?) and Windows)
I can simply go into options, and choose from a variety of 'notifications', activated by simply hitting a 'hotkey', either the default one suggested by the software, or one that I nominate.
Oddly enough, mine is set to use a dual coloured circle too, though this is a single circle that changes colour automatically, either in part or entirely, according to the background, and is activated by hitting the nominated hotkey 'm' ... for mouse:-)

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

In Windows, you can activate an option which has concentric B&W rings converging on your cursor when you press CTRL.
And my previous app for screen captures [ACDSee Photo Canvas] had an option that allowed you to screen capture WITH the mouse cursor should you wish to.

Granted, this doesn't really make up for the fact that my Windows XP PC currently freezes on startup, and I'm awaiting morning to have somebody with professional knowledge try to unstuck the durn contraption for me!
):-P
Frankly, Linux roolz. My here laptop I'm using tonight seems nearly invincible.

Robb in Houston said...

Snot a bad idea at all, Eolake, medium chap!

In other words, pretty neat idea!

Robb in Houston said...

Sir Pascal:

Your Win XP machine might have too much loading on startup - and/or you have too many applications competing for the same RAM blocks.

And yes, LINUX does rule. I'm told the latest version is the most Windows alike since Noah and Moses rode tricycles together. Don't have it yet, but I have an IBM box here to experiment with.

Veni, Vedi, Voops!
I came, I saw, I tripped!

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

(That last one is good, and should be right up Pascal's alley. :-)

"Snot a bad idea at all, Eolake, medium chap"

Thanks kindly. Although I'm actually a large chap, not medium.

(But seriously, what did you mean by "medium chap"?)

James said...

Eolake: If you want a great 'screen capture' software check out SnagIt. They just introduced a version for Apple (You have the choice of leaving the cursor in or out of your screen shots).
I have been using this software in a variety of ways for years and I don't know how I would live without it now.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thanks, I'll V it out.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Trying it now, it does seem excellent. The scrolling capture alone is outstanding. And so many editing options.

Robb in Houston said...

Eolake -I meant exactly that. Medium.

Wasn't going to say large. :-)