Tuesday 15 June 2010

Vast monitor space and losing focus

It's funny as monitor space increases, the mouse and keyboard cursor are more easily lost. My eyes aren't focusing where my cursors are, so sometimes I'll take actions that don't track with what the computer thinks I'm looking at. You minimise this app and look somewhere else, but meanwhile Windows has decided that some other app on the opposite side of your vast monitor array is where you're looking. Hit delete to try and remove an old email and accidentally wipe out a character in a document you were writing. It's a moment of discord, not badly out of place, but enough to make it feel like you and the computer aren't cooperating. Suddenly it's not an invisible window into the world of information. It's the dumb box in the corner that can't tell the difference between deleting spam and editing a report. And it matters primarily because a computer should be invisible and should never surprise you in a bad way.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I only have this problem at work.
PPS - At home my monitor arrangements are more singular than plural.

8 comments:

Le blog de Robin said...

Do you mean new monitors are bigger or have higher resolution?

John said...

Well, they're both, but I was thinking more about multi-monitor setups. Of course I expect in the future to see single monitors as big as today's multi-monitor arrangements.

Charles said...

how big is your monitor arrangement at work?

I'm on a 42" sony hd tv at home and i lose my cursor all the time... but it's worth it to you read your blog in that size so that i can see the crisp quality of your words in that much clarity.

I bought this tv because of your blog.... you owe me six hundred dollars in a round about fashion.

John said...

My arrangement at work is fairly modest - only 2 x 19" BenQ monitors. I think that goes to show that the problem is not limited to huge arrays of monitors.

If the ad revenue for this site were over $600 per reader per year, you might have a claim for your monitor. :P

Charles said...

Hey don't worry about it now man... next week I can set you up on a financing plan... a low low monthly payment of $30/mo

you'll have my TV paid off in no time...

Le blog de Robin said...

I bought a new computer (laptop) recently with 1600x900 max resolutions.

Yes. I can lose cursor until I move the mouse. That's never happen with previous computers I have.

Charles said...

what we need an intricate speaker array underneath the monitor screens that would emit a tiny humming noise from the exact location of the cursor, and a whooshing, zipping noise that would follow the cursor when it moves....

John said...

You could probably do that with just 4 speakers, properly in sync. For now, though, you'd probably rather use built-in cursor finding techniques for when it gets really, truly lost and not just temporarily misplaced.