Re: Where the mouse is when I'm reading (no relevance to UI design that I am aware of)

[Raja R Harinath <harinath cs umn edu>]

Hi,

Alex Larsson <alexl redhat com> writes:
> On Sat, 3 Nov 2001, Darin Adler wrote:
>> On Sat, 2001-11-03 at 09:47, Charles Kerr wrote:
>> 
>> > I dunno how this maps to online reading, but 9 times out of 10 I highlight
>> > the line/paragraph that I'm on while reading.
>> 
>> I do that a lot in editor windows (although not in dialogs). It drives
>> people looking over my shoulder crazy.
>
> I do it all the time in the webbrowser. Nowhere else though.

That's probably because most browsers don't have a reasonable
\baselinestretch, in TeX parlance.  The distance between adjacent
baselines is pretty much the height of the tallest character + a
couple of pixels, at best.  This give the page a cramped appearance,
and we lose track of where we're reading.  We need other cues to keep
our position on the page.  Another reason may be that we're not used
to reading scrolling text, where the text moves and you lose your
position on the page.  Again, the selection acts as an anchor.

- Hari
-- 
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ harinath cs umn edu
"When all else fails, read the instructions."      -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing."   -- Roy L Ash