Buzz
Initially, computer mouse pointers were straight vertical arrows, but later they were redesigned as you see them today.
1. Why are computer mouse pointers tilted instead of straight?
Initially, computer mouse pointers were straight vertical arrows, but later they were redesigned as you see them today.
Have you ever questioned why the computer mouse icon is a tilted left arrow instead of being designed straight? In fact, it's not by chance that designers opted for the current computer mouse icon design you see today.
Mouse pointers, as we know them, have a tilted left arrow shape.
When the computer mouse was first invented by an engineer working for Xerox named Douglas Engelbart in 1981, its corresponding icon in the user interface was a straight arrow. However, on low-resolution screens at the time, users struggled to see a small straight arrow icon clearly, as you can see in the image below.
The straight design made it difficult for users to see the mouse pointer on low-resolution screens.
For this reason, when Xerox and its research division called the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) began developing their own computers, Engelbart decided to tilt the straight mouse design by 45 degrees. This tilted design proved to help users see the mouse pointer on the screen more easily. Later on, Engelbart's design was quickly adopted by influential figures in the personal computer industry such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, contributing to the standardization of the mouse pointer icon as it is today.
Source: Channel 14
