Mouse Pointers

The appearance of the mouse pointer can change. The appearance of the pointer provides feedback about a particular operation, location, or state. The following mouse pointers are displayed as the mouse passes over different elements of the screen.

Table A-3 Mouse Pointer Description

Mouse Pointer Description Normal pointer Appears during normal mouse usage. Busy pointer Appears over a window that is busy performing a task. You cannot use the mouse to give this window any input, but you can move to another window and work there. Resize pointer Indicates that you can grab the control to resize parts of the interface. This pointer appears over the borders of windows and over resize handles between panes in a window. The direction of the arrows indicates the direction in which you can resize. Hand pointer Appears when you hover over a hypertext link, for example, in a web page. This pointer indicates that you can click the link to load a new document or perform an action. I-beam pointer Appears when the mouse is over text which you can select or edit. Click to place the cursor where you want to type text, or drag to select text. The following mouse pointers are displayed when dragging an item such as a file or a piece of text. They indicate the result of releasing the mouse button to drop the object being moved. Move pointer Indicates that when you drop the object, it is moved from the old location to the new location. Copy pointer Indicates that when you drop the object, a copy of the object is created where you drop it. Symbolic link pointer Indicates that when you drop the object, a symbolic link to the object is created where you drop the object. A symbolic link is a special type of file that points to another file or folder. See Creating a Symbolic Link to a File or Folder for more information about creating symbolic links. Ask pointer Indicates that when you drop the object, you will be given a choice. A menu is displayed which enables you to choose which operation you want to perform, for example, you might be able to move, copy, or create a symbolic link. Not available pointer Indicates that you cannot drop the object at the current location. Releasing the mouse button has no effect. The dragged object is returned to its original location. Move panel object pointer Appears when you drag a panel or a panel object with the middle mouse button. See Chapter 4, Using the Desktop Panels for more information about panels. Move window pointer Appears when you drag a window to move it. See Working With Windows for more information about moving windows.