

Bubble Cursor Bookmarklet - chrislloyd
http://stuartk.co.uk/bubble-cursor/

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alanh
“Cool” but the fact there are no dead zones, and lots of spots where a pixel
or two nudge (easy to do by accident) means you’re clicking a different link
than the one you were about to a pixel ago, give me great pause. (And of
course this would be more “useful” as an extension or userscript than
bookmarklet; clicking a bookmarklet to lazy-click links is a weak value
proposition, naturally.)

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Groxx
That's the _massive_ downside to every implementation of bubble cursors /
something similar I've yet seen. I'll label them "naive" implementations,
because they're so mindlessly implemented: it selects the nearest clickable
item, with no respect for _any_ relation to movement or chaotic spots where
you can select different things with single pixel movements.

Though I do see that this could be useful once they're more polished. I just
don't get why everyone's drinking the same implementation kool-aid, rather
than seeking to improve on it.

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Stuk
Hi, I just put this together quickly to see what it feels like when used on a
web page rather than an artificial environment, it wasn't intended as a fully
featured interaction method.

In fact even while playing around with it myself I found it frustrating that I
couldn't click anywhere without following a link, and you're right that the
implementation is very naive. This was just a bit of fun which I wanted to put
out there. Hopefully that explains why it isn't perfect :)

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Groxx
Wasn't a rant against your implementation, just that _every_ one I've seen is
a mirror image of the others, with only one variable: whether your pointer
determines an _edge_ of the circle - thereby making it harder to determine
where it'll jump to - or it determines the _center_ of the circle - making it
harder to aim. There's gotta be a better way, because the concept is
excellent.

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houseabsolute
Cool. Unfortunately I can't use it because I have this nervous tic where I
click all over the page randomly.

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twodayslate
Same. I have the problem of highlighting text constantly. It drives everyone I
know crazy.

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Groxx
A bit odd that it doesn't even work on their page:
<http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/9783/oddity.jpg>

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Stuk
Hi, I'm the author. I haven't seen that behaviour before. Would you mind
telling me which browser/OS you're using?

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Groxx
Happens reliably for me, with other odd behaviors on other sites (not all).
Safari 5.0.2 on an up-to-date OSX 10.6. I could record a screencast, if you'd
like, though I'll try cleaning things up first. An extension / the fact that I
haven't shut down Safari in 4 days could be messing something up.

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amadiver
What does this help with?

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thenduks
It is a bit non-obvious. Check out the demo linked, and turn on timing mode.
Now try to click the blue circle (it moves after each click) as fast as
possible. Turn on and off the bubble cursor mode and see if your time changes.

TL;DR: It allows you to be less accurate with the mouse because the nearest
target is auto-highlighted.

I could see it being useful for someone that has a hard time controlling the
mouse accurately, either from some kind of physical limitation or
inexperience.

Also: <http://uiobservatory.com/2010/the-bubble-cursor-in-action/>

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gojomo
Cool. I've assumed touchscreen UIs used something like this, within certain
tolerance limits, to make it easier to click small targets.

