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Will Sierra Finally Allow Users to Block Blinking Cursors?

Hi,


I'm still using El Capitan, but I have a strobe sensitivity. Flashing and blinking screw with my eyesight around the flash, and screw with my balance, and trigger my migraines. I don't know the medical details, except that it's not photosensitive epilepsy.


I have been having a lot of trouble with the flashing cursors in many apps. For example, LibreOffice defaults to system settings for cursor handling, and OS X doesn't or didn't have any settings to allow users to disable blinking.


I tried the fix here which works in a few apps, such as Textedit, but not most:


http://www.macissues.com/2014/12/08/how-to-change-your-macs-text-cursor-blink-ra te/


I think that fix works with certain apis, but I can't find much more about that.


If there still isn't a fix that works everywhere, then I'm going to need some way to identify which applications it works in, without trial and error, so I can find a better word processor, a better mail app, etc. I already use Firefox with about:config fixes, script-blocking tools, and animation-blocking tools, which covers that, though it doesn't block all animation and can't make all websites accessible.

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Sep 29, 2016 3:41 PM

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6 replies

Nov 6, 2016 12:04 PM in response to Drew Reece

In apps using NSText to render text, go into the terminal.


You can use this to check the current blink rates; I don't know if it will return anything if you haven't changed these:


defaults read -g | grep Blink

You can use these or your preferred values to set the new blink rates; the higher the value, the longer the period before it switches:


defaults write -g NSTextInsertionPointBlinkPeriod -float 10000

defaults write -g NSTextInsertionPointBlinkPeriodOn -float 10000

defaults write -g NSTextInsertionPointBlinkPeriodOff -float 10


Some apps will use the first line, others the second and third.


http://www.macissues.com/2014/12/08/how-to-change-your-macs-text-cursor-blink-ra te/


In apps using Webkit, you will need app-specific fixes; In Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey go into about:config.


In Firefox, you can go into about:config by typing about:config into the url bar. In Thunderbird, you can go into Preferences > Advanced > General and click the Config Editor. You can create a new integer value for ui.caretBlinkTime and set it to 0 to stop blinking.


In Wine, you may or may not be able to get Windows-based fixes to work. I haven't.


http://www.jurta.org/en/prog/noblink


I hope this helps!

Will Sierra Finally Allow Users to Block Blinking Cursors?

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