As far as I am concerned, the cursor that I need on my computer is a simple tool that enables me to see just where I need to type. Notice that I used the word ‘need’ to describe it because that is what it is – an essential, functional item that enables me to be more productive. Now, I know that there are scores of bored and weird computer programmers sitting out there with nothing better to do, but I can for the life of me imagine why anyone of them could have come up with an invention as stupid as the animated cursor.
Each time I see an animated cursor, it makes my blood boil. Maybe I should explain myself on that one. You see, my little nephew, who pretends to have been born with radical computer skills visited me once. And in the brief while that he asked for my permission to check his mail on my home computer, he had managed to change the desktop settings, hide all my files and folders and worst of all, managed to replace my beautifully functional cursor with an animated cursor.
Now I’m no luddite and hence managed to change the rest of the things back to their original shape and form. But the animated cursor really troubled me. And I couldn’t even use the blasted thing. It was a whirling wheel that didn’t allow me to point at anything at all. I mean, how does one point with an animated cursor in the shape of a circle? And with a job like mine that entails drawing complex diagrams, I could barely use the confounded animated cursor.
Ever since, I’ve had a healthy distaste for animated cursors of all kinds. And each time I see someone else with an animated cursor, I’m sorely tempted to rip their computer apart and knock them on the head, all the while saying, ‘how come you manage to point with that animated thing?’ Think about it. An animated cursor comes in all sorts of shapes except one that is conducive to helping it do what it is supposed to! I must admit though that I did come across one that was very pointed. It was shaped like a sword. But in general, in order to be animated, these cursors take the most confounded shapes. I’ve even seen one shaped like a dog for heaven’s sake.
While I am sure that there are a lot of people who do enjoy these animated cursors, I’m pretty sure that I’ll never learn to love them. Unless it is effective and functional and not animated. Which would make it unlike any animated cursor I’ve ever seen!
