6 ms·

Common Mac OS X Cursors

31 points by corentin88 4y ago

rcarmo 4y ago
I clicked through hoping to find the spinning beachball as the most common one, but in this age of Apple Silicon that seems to have stopped being a thing. That said, this is a useful UX design tidbit.
- zuhsetaqi 4y ago
  > I clicked through hoping to find the spinning beachball as the most common one, but in this age of Apple Silicon that seems to have stopped being a thing. Apple Silicon is so fast, the beachball is no longer needed. /s
  - maleldil 4y ago
    No sarcasm needed. My first Mac is an M1, and I've only seen the beachball when badly-behaved programs crash, never for waiting for something.
    - wink 4y ago
      As a non-mac user I originally didn't even know the beachball was indicating "waiting" and not actually "it crashed". Just from my coworkers grumbling.
      - stuaxo 4y ago
        In the age of hard disks it could be hard to tell.
      - pram 4y ago
        It makes more sense that it's 'waiting for access' when you know it was historically supposed to represent a spinning CD.
dwighttk 4y ago
Are these the current MacOS cursors? Or historical Mac OS X cursors?
- pdpi 4y ago
  Current. E.g. the camera cursor is used by the screenshot tool (cmd-shift-4, then space)
- KMnO4 4y ago
  It’s interesting that people don’t associate the X in Mac OS X with “10”. MacOS is now on version 13*, so calling it Mac OS X is like saying “the current version of Windows 7” Edit: whoops, Ventura is version 13. Thanks!
  - pdpi 4y ago
    Ventura is macOS 13.
  - goosedragons 4y ago
    That'll happen if you keep using the same version number for two decades ;) . Ventura is latest version of MacOS and that's version 13.
    - KMnO4 4y ago
      Whoops, thanks!
    - Maursault 4y ago
      Mac OS died with Mac OS 9. Next came Mac OS X 10.x. Then OS X 10.x. Today it is macOS. MacOS never existed.
      - goosedragons 4y ago
        Yes and it's never the iPhone, just iPhone. But I don't care and don't work for Apple PR.
planede 4y ago
Is distributing these cursors OK legally speaking? I guess as part of a screenshot it's probably fair use.
- asddubs 4y ago
  not a lawyer, but I don't see how it would be. that being said, it's the type of offense that is unlikely to get you in trouble
nntwozz 4y ago
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/pointers-in-macos-mh35695/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/pointers-in-macos-m... Here's a more comprehensive list.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  I'm sure they were custom (app specific) cursors, but I kind of miss the counting-finger-hand cursor that meant "busy".
thealistra 4y ago
Weird that they are @x1 @x2 and @x4 as the apple devices scales were historically 1, 2 and 3
- sashk 4y ago
  wasn't it x4, scaled down to 3×? I recall they used something like that in first "plus" phones.
  - Wevah 4y ago
    No, it was x3. The physical displays on the early “plus” phones were slightly smaller than the actual rendered resolution, so that was downscaled slightly.
- Someone 4y ago
  This is about their desktop/laptop OS, not their phones/tablets.
9dev 4y ago
This is a bit off-topic, but I have always been wondering why cursors in operating systems or games always seem to wear white gloves. Am I just too young? Have gloves been a thing in the eighties? Edit: Thinking further, is this related to Mickey Mouse? Why does he wear gloves too, anyway? So many questions.
- asddubs 4y ago
  I would assume that the reason mickey mouse wears gloves is to make his hand movements more clear, since his body is pitch black
- gcanyon 4y ago
  There are at least three reasons Mickey wears gloves: 1. To make his hands stand out. [1] 2. To make him seem more human. [1] [2] 3. To make it easier to draw him (gloves are simpler than hands). [2] 1. https://www.southernliving.com/news/why-disney-cartoons-wear-gloves 2. https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1495,00.html
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    URLs won't be link-ified if they're in a code block. https://www.southernliving.com/news/why-disney-cartoons-wear-gloves https://www.southernliving.com/news/why-disney-cartoons-wear... https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1495,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-14...
    - gcanyon 4y ago
      Thanks! How did you get those to present as separate lines, without putting a blank line between them?
      - frosted-flakes 4y ago
        I didn't. I meant to put a blank line between them so they would be in different paragraphs, but it only wraps to a second line on small screens. On the desktop they show on one line.
jw1224 4y ago
The History of Mouse Cursors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg

31 points by corentin88 4y ago

I clicked through hoping to find the spinning beachball as the most common one, but in this age of Apple Silicon that seems to have stopped being a thing. That said, this is a useful UX design tidbit.

zuhsetaqi 4y ago
> I clicked through hoping to find the spinning beachball as the most common one, but in this age of Apple Silicon that seems to have stopped being a thing. Apple Silicon is so fast, the beachball is no longer needed. /s
- maleldil 4y ago
  No sarcasm needed. My first Mac is an M1, and I've only seen the beachball when badly-behaved programs crash, never for waiting for something.
  - wink 4y ago
    As a non-mac user I originally didn't even know the beachball was indicating "waiting" and not actually "it crashed". Just from my coworkers grumbling.
    - stuaxo 4y ago
      In the age of hard disks it could be hard to tell.
    - pram 4y ago
      It makes more sense that it's 'waiting for access' when you know it was historically supposed to represent a spinning CD.

dwighttk 4y ago

Are these the current MacOS cursors? Or historical Mac OS X cursors?

pdpi 4y ago
Current. E.g. the camera cursor is used by the screenshot tool (cmd-shift-4, then space)
KMnO4 4y ago
It’s interesting that people don’t associate the X in Mac OS X with “10”. MacOS is now on version 13*, so calling it Mac OS X is like saying “the current version of Windows 7” Edit: whoops, Ventura is version 13. Thanks!
- pdpi 4y ago
  Ventura is macOS 13.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  That'll happen if you keep using the same version number for two decades ;) . Ventura is latest version of MacOS and that's version 13.
  - KMnO4 4y ago
    Whoops, thanks!
  - Maursault 4y ago
    Mac OS died with Mac OS 9. Next came Mac OS X 10.x. Then OS X 10.x. Today it is macOS. MacOS never existed.
    - goosedragons 4y ago
      Yes and it's never the iPhone, just iPhone. But I don't care and don't work for Apple PR.

planede 4y ago

Is distributing these cursors OK legally speaking? I guess as part of a screenshot it's probably fair use.

asddubs 4y ago
not a lawyer, but I don't see how it would be. that being said, it's the type of offense that is unlikely to get you in trouble

nntwozz 4y ago

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/pointers-in-macos-mh35695/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/pointers-in-macos-m... Here's a more comprehensive list.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
I'm sure they were custom (app specific) cursors, but I kind of miss the counting-finger-hand cursor that meant "busy".

thealistra 4y ago

Weird that they are @x1 @x2 and @x4 as the apple devices scales were historically 1, 2 and 3

sashk 4y ago
wasn't it x4, scaled down to 3×? I recall they used something like that in first "plus" phones.
- Wevah 4y ago
  No, it was x3. The physical displays on the early “plus” phones were slightly smaller than the actual rendered resolution, so that was downscaled slightly.
Someone 4y ago
This is about their desktop/laptop OS, not their phones/tablets.

9dev 4y ago

This is a bit off-topic, but I have always been wondering why cursors in operating systems or games always seem to wear white gloves. Am I just too young? Have gloves been a thing in the eighties? Edit: Thinking further, is this related to Mickey Mouse? Why does he wear gloves too, anyway? So many questions.

asddubs 4y ago
I would assume that the reason mickey mouse wears gloves is to make his hand movements more clear, since his body is pitch black
gcanyon 4y ago
There are at least three reasons Mickey wears gloves: 1. To make his hands stand out. [1] 2. To make him seem more human. [1] [2] 3. To make it easier to draw him (gloves are simpler than hands). [2] 1. https://www.southernliving.com/news/why-disney-cartoons-wear-gloves 2. https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1495,00.html
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  URLs won't be link-ified if they're in a code block. https://www.southernliving.com/news/why-disney-cartoons-wear-gloves https://www.southernliving.com/news/why-disney-cartoons-wear... https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1495,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-14...
  - gcanyon 4y ago
    Thanks! How did you get those to present as separate lines, without putting a blank line between them?
    - frosted-flakes 4y ago
      I didn't. I meant to put a blank line between them so they would be in different paragraphs, but it only wraps to a second line on small screens. On the desktop they show on one line.

jw1224 4y ago

The History of Mouse Cursors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThelfB2fvg