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Comment by ptx | Hacker News Reader

> One of the small preferences we introduced in the Linear app is not displaying the mouse cursor pointer over links. We want to mimic the feeling you natively have on the desktop with our Mac app.

Hmm. This might actually be an example of settings as a result of design failure.

The text in the screenshot describes the setting as applying not just to links but to "any interactive element". But most native desktop apps (which they're trying to mimic) would use a special cursor for links and a regular mouse cursor for other interactive elements, so it seems that (by entangling links and other interactive elements) the setting allows a choice of two incorrect behaviours instead of just behaving correctly by default.

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The text is maybe confusing but how it works is that the setting is either "Native" or "Web" style.

Native means that interactive elements like toolbar items, nav or icons are just show the regular cursor and links in text use the pointer (Mail app)

Web style is what is common with many web apps and sites where every interactive element uses the pointer (Slack).

The reason for the setting that people seem to be one way or the other on which they are used to.

Are you using one of "pointer" or "cursor" (which are synonyms, to me[1]) to refer to either an I-beam cursor, or the hand cursor, commonly used to indicate a clickable hyperlink?

(I actually dislike how text in native apps doesn't often permit the use of I-beam; it'd be a lot easier to copy/paste errors if one could highlight them.)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursor_(user_interface)#Pointe...

In CSS, the hand cursor is called a 'pointer' cursor, so I think that's what was intended. For anyone who hasn't internalized this, including the app's users, I imagine this is quite confusing. :)

IIUC 'regular cursor' is just the default mouse cursor. I don't think anyone meant the I-beam/text cursor, but I agree with your selection comment entirely.

Yup. In css the attribute that controls the pointer is called 'cursor' these are two types are 'default' and 'pointer. [1]

In MacOS these are called pointers with 'arrow' and 'pointing hand' styles [2]

Not sure what Windows calls it but some googling shows them as 'standard select' and 'link select'.

[1]: http://www.javascripter.net/faq/stylesc.htm

[2]: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...

There's more than two types of cursors, it's just that MacOS doesn't support anything but those two (excluding the directional cursors), and Windows supports most, and most GNU/Linux DEs support all.

Jesus. Stop messing with links. Make it more obvious it is a link. Not less. People feel dumb not knowing hwne to click on something or not. A simple underline, a background change with underline, a mouse change help know what is in there and what will happen.

This oversimplification is dumb. My friends and family feel dumb for not knowing how to naivgate the dumb UX decisions

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