Cursor Disappears After Web Page Scroll

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Level 6

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Cursor Disappears After Web Page Scroll

I've noticed an odd thing regarding the cursor on my Mac while using Web browsers. In both Safari 3.2.3 and Firefox 3.0.11, when I press the space bar to scroll down a page, the cursor disappears. The slightest movement on the trackpad makes the cursor reappear. If the invisible cursor happens to be on a link on the new page, that link appears underlined and can be activated by a click, so the cursor really is there, but is invisible.

This isn't causing me a lot of grief, but does strike me as very quirky. To avoid questions, except for the Safari update, I'm running a fully-updated Mac OS X.

Does anyone have an explanation for this behavior?

MacBook 2.0 GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 28, 2009 7:48 AM

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Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Jun 28, 2009 8:00 AM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

This is normal behavior in any place where text editing can occur, and a web page definitely qualifies. When you press a key, the cursor disappears so that you can type without any text being obstructed. You should notice this behavior in many other places as well (editing a file name in the Finder, using any text editor or word processor, typing in a search field, editing Address Book data or iCal events, etc).

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Answer 2

William-Boyd-Jr Author

Level 6

10,587 points

Jun 28, 2009 8:14 AM in response to thomas_r.

Thomas A Reed wrote:
This is normal behavior in any place where text editing can occur, and a web page definitely qualifies. When you press a key, the cursor disappears so that you can type without any text being obstructed.

I think I understand your point, but for this behavior to make sense, (a) shouldn't the cursor first be in a text field and (b) shouldn't the arrow cursor change to a text-entry cursor? Neither of these is the case.

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Answer 3

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Jun 28, 2009 8:52 AM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

This is the way the Mac has behaved for as long as I can remember, and I've been using the Mac since 1984 (which, if you're not aware, means I've been using Macs since the very first one ever released, the Mac 128k). The only reason I use the qualifier "for as long as I can remember" is that I can't honestly remember if it behaved this way all the way back to the first version of the OS. Certainly, I can't remember it ever behaving differently.

I don't really understand why it bothers you. Getting the cursor out of the way any time you're using the keyboard makes sense to me. If I'm navigating a web page, or anything else, using the keyboard, I probably don't want the mouse to be hanging out, potentially blocking my view.

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Answer 4

William-Boyd-Jr Author

Level 6

10,587 points

Jun 28, 2009 9:18 AM in response to thomas_r.

Thomas A Reed wrote:
This is the way the Mac has behaved for as long as I can remember

I'm not a big fan of appeals to nostalgia.

If I'm navigating a web page, or anything else, using the keyboard, I probably don't want the mouse to be hanging out, potentially blocking my view.

Why should the cursor act in one way when I navigate a Web page using the keyboard and a different when I navigate it using the trackpad?

I don't really understand why it bothers you. Getting the cursor out of the way any time you're using the keyboard makes sense to me.

I can agree if "using the keyboard" means "typing into a text box", although in this case there really should be a text cursor in that box.

My biggest dislike of that behavior (acting partly like a text cursor without there being a text box involved) is that it can be confusing to novices. In a related vein, it also violates the "Principle of Least Astonishment", which states that, when designing a machine-human interface, if you have a choice of two behaviors, you should pick the one least likely to cause someone seeing it for the first time to respond "Huh!!??"

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Answer 5

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Jun 28, 2009 10:46 AM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

I'm not a big fan of appeals to nostalgia.

If you take a long-established behavior and change it, that has very little to do with nostalgia, it has the potential to make a lot of people confused or unhappy. It wouldn't even matter much if you had definitive scientific proof that the new behavior was better... the simple act of making a change is more disruptive to most people than any benefits... and, in this case, there really wouldn't be any benefits.

My biggest dislike of that behavior (...) is that it can be confusing to novices.

I have, over the years, done quite a bit of user support, both professional and personal. In such a job, you often see many novices, confused by many very simple things. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone comment on this. It's so unimportant the average user never even notices it. From my observations over the years, I would even wager they don't even know it's happening... they just wave the mouse to locate the cursor on the screen and never know it was hidden.

Since you disagree, you can always go send Apple feedback on the matter:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 6

William-Boyd-Jr Author

Level 6

10,587 points

Jun 28, 2009 11:36 AM in response to thomas_r.

Thomas A Reed wrote:
If you take a long-established behavior and change it, that has very little to do with nostalgia, it has the potential to make a lot of people confused or unhappy.

As I'm sure you're aware, over the years Apple has changed many OS behaviors. A number of those changes caused user backlash, but few of those were reversed.

My point with the comment about nostalgia is that "that's the way it's always been done" isn't necessarily a good reason to continue doing the same thing.

in this case, there really wouldn't be any benefits.

Neither can I see any drawbacks for such a change: If the space bar is pressed and the cursor isn't in a text box, don't make it disappear.

I took another look at Apple's Human Interface Guideline documents. This one on cursors

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/userexperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidel ines/XHIGCursors/XHIGCursors.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002724-CHDIGFBH

says nothing about making cursors disappear. This one with an overview on Human Interface Guidelines

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/userexperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidel ines/XHIGHIDesign/XHIGHIDesign.html

says that the interface should "reflect the user's mental model."

I don't see that this cursor behavior reflects either guideline.

Since you disagree, you can always go send Apple feedback on the matter:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I think I'll do that.

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