Why is the mouse cursor tilted 45 °?

    A visitor to the StackExchange question and answer site asked a stupid question at first glance: why are all cursors in all operating systems a little “crooked”, that is, have a certain slope, and do not indicate directly? In fact, why is the cursor not vertical, because it is most convenient for highlighting text and other tasks?



    He is answered by an expert who is well acquainted with the history of computer technology. He confirms that the inventor of the mouse, Douglas Engelbart, really depicted the up arrow cursor as the most logical option for selection (see screenshot above).

    However, the Xerox company was the first in the world to implement the graphical interface of the operating system in practice, namely, its research unit Palo Alto Research Center. In particular, the cursor is described in a 1981 document that lists the features of XEROX PARC, the first-ever GUI computer.

    When designing this machine, it was found that due to the low resolution of the displays of that time, it was impossible to create a normal small vertical cursor from pixels. It was decided not to increase the size of the pointer, but instead turn it slightly so that one face is vertical and the other tilts 45 °.


    Image from Palo Alto Research Center documentation

    More than 30 years have passed, high-resolution displays have appeared, but the tradition of depicting the cursor tilted to 45 ° has been preserved.

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