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On 5/25/00 6:21 AM, Mark L. Levinson (markl -at- gilian -dot- com) wrote:
>But while perhaps no one will be confused by
>a merging of the names, no one will be confused
>by a distinguishing between them either, and I
>think it's a good thing to preserve distinctions,
>lest when some day they are needed, they be extinct.
"Cursor" seems to have ambiguous meaning, indicating either the mouse or
the text entry point, depending on the platform you're documenting. For
that reason, I don't use it.
The Apple style guide says to use "pointer" for the mouse indicator.
Elsewhere, they say we should avoid "cursor" to indicate where text is
entered, in favor of "insertion point."
The Microsoft style guide, showing its DOS background, says that both
"pointer" and "cursor" refer to the mouse indicator on screen, although
pointer is preferred. They also say to use "insertion point" to describe
the flashing bar or box for entering text.
I've always followed these conventions without confusing anyone, using
"pointer" and "insertion point" and avoiding "cursor" altogether.
