mdobies

Q: Changing size and color of mouse pointer...How? OSX  10.9.1

I'm having problems seeing my mouse on the screen. It's really frustrating sitting down and not finding it, immediately.

How do you change it? I just can't find it.

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Feb 15, 2014 11:28 AM

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Q: Changing size and color of mouse pointer...How? OSX  10.9.1

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 15, 2014 11:38 AM in response to mdobies
    Level 10 (271,743 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 15, 2014 11:38 AM in response to mdobies

    OS X does not have options for changing the pointer. But you can find third-party utilities that can help.

     

    PinPoint 3.7.10

  • by Tuttle,Apple recommended

    Tuttle Tuttle Feb 15, 2014 11:51 AM in response to mdobies
    Level 7 (29,520 points)
    FrontRow
    Feb 15, 2014 11:51 AM in response to mdobies

    Adjust cursor size in System Preferences > Accessibility > Display

     

    Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at Saturday February 15, 02.48.19 PM.png

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 15, 2014 11:54 AM in response to Tuttle
    Level 10 (271,743 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 15, 2014 11:54 AM in response to Tuttle

    I thought I'd seen it somewhere, but didn't look there. "Mouse" - "Display." Not intuitively ocnnected when there already is a mouse entry in the list.

  • by Tuttle,

    Tuttle Tuttle Feb 15, 2014 12:01 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 7 (29,520 points)
    FrontRow
    Feb 15, 2014 12:01 PM in response to Kappy

    Accessibility is the most opaque feature in OS X. I've wasted quite a bit of time in there trying to figure out things like Switches.

  • by mdobies,

    mdobies mdobies Feb 17, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Tuttle
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Feb 17, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Tuttle

    Thank you, This was perfect! Seemed like forever trying to find that myself.

  • by Tuttle,

    Tuttle Tuttle Feb 17, 2014 9:14 AM in response to mdobies
    Level 7 (29,520 points)
    FrontRow
    Feb 17, 2014 9:14 AM in response to mdobies

    I know the feeling.

  • by dingsda,

    dingsda dingsda Jan 5, 2016 4:46 AM in response to Tuttle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2016 4:46 AM in response to Tuttle

    There's a huge problem with the way the cursor zooms, it makes it unusable for precision work like CAD:

    The relevant tip is the black one, but zooming also affects the white border, so the bigger the cursor, the less precise you can work with it, since the white border hides the area where you want to click.

    I want the big cursor to easily find it, but it should not loose any precision.

    At least, now the cursor is no longer pixellated on zoom, as it was on older OS X versions. But Apple should put more work into that, really!

  • by Sherwood Botsford,

    Sherwood Botsford Sherwood Botsford Sep 20, 2016 5:09 AM in response to Tuttle
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Sep 20, 2016 5:09 AM in response to Tuttle

    That makes it bigger.  And clunky.   Much rather have it bright green, or bright red.

  • by e4emre,

    e4emre e4emre Sep 20, 2016 2:00 PM in response to dingsda
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 20, 2016 2:00 PM in response to dingsda

    I completely agree with this. The mouse cursor in MacOS is unusable for precision work because the white area obscures the clicking point. It's like typing with boxing gloves on. #DisappointedMacUser

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Sep 20, 2016 4:17 PM in response to e4emre
    Level 6 (14,152 points)
    iPad
    Sep 20, 2016 4:17 PM in response to e4emre

    Really?

    The OS X cursor is that problematic for a few of you here in this posting!

    Really?

    I use a slightly higher screen resolution and I have no issues doing precision work on my 27 inch iMac.

    The cursor doesn't present any issue for a lot of users or more users would be complaining about it.

    I use a CAD app (High Design CAD), vector apps, digital painting apps that I create highly precision and detailed images, digital paintings and drawings.

    I use a drawing tablet, as well as a visual drawing tablet app and smart Bluetooth stylus on my iPad Pro connected to my Mac and I can get real precise with no problems what so ever.

    With most CAD and vector apps, you know you can adjust the line snap precision, don't you?

    You can, also, zoom and pan?

    I'm 54 years old and occasionally need to wear my glasses when I work on a computer.

    How old is everyone here complaining about the Mac's cursor "precision"?

    Geez!...

     

    I can understand not seeing the cursor at the size it appears at a Mac's native screen size ( I prefer to increase the screen resolution instead to get bigger UI elements), but the there is nothing wrong with the OS X cursor's precision.

     

    In the OS X Settings app under mouse/trackpad control, you can set the "speed" of the cursor so it is slower and not so fast to precision place it better on the screen.

    You can, also, adjust the cursor acceleration so it does not "zoom" so fast across the screen aiding in more precise cursor placement and movements.

    There are plenty of options to adjust the OS X cursor's behaviour to get it to be more comfortable,  controllable and precise.

     

    Plenty precicision for me and the majority of creative artists and CAD users.

     

    Good Luck!

  • by e4emre,

    e4emre e4emre Sep 20, 2016 4:29 PM in response to MichelPM
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 20, 2016 4:29 PM in response to MichelPM

    It appears you misunderstood the problem, it has nothing at all to do with the movement of the mouse pointer.

     

    This is the bug: The click point of the mouse is in the wrong place relative to the tip of the pointer icon.

     

    The issue is with the rendering of the arrow icon for the mouse cursor. The x,y click coordinate is at the tip of the inner black arrow, but there's a white arrow outside that obscures the surroundings of the black arrow.

     

    At minimum size, the white arrow is only slightly bigger than the black arrow, so the problem isn't very noticeable. However, if you want to use a large cursor then the outer white arrow gets much bigger and the problem becomes a lot more apparent. If I want to click on a specific region that's only a few pixels wide, I can't do so with because I can't see that region because the white section of the cursor is blocking it. I can see with precision what the tip of the outer white pointer is pointing at, but that's not where the click happens, it happens at the tip of the black arrow that's inside of the cursor.

     

    Since MacOS doesn't have a way of having a different mouse cursor, we're stuck with an arrow that points in one place and clicks in a different place.