treehouse/content/design/digital-textures.tree

%% title = "on digital textures"

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- this is not about textures in the graphics programming sort of way. this is about textures in the _you can feel it under your fingers_ way

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- I don't know if it's just some weird synaesthesia thing or not, but one interesting observation I've noticed is that various cursors seem to give off different _textures_.
like you hover over something and you can digitally feel it under your fingers

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- these textures just generally cause different pieces of software to give off different _vibes_;
for example, based on texture alone it is possible to determine whether something runs on web technologies.

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    - you can probably tell this blog is a website just by _feeling_ how it behaves.

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        - the cursors, where [pointer]{style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: dotted underline;"} is used for elements that are clickable,
        and a text cursor is used for text.

        ``` =html
        <style>
        .digital-textures-pointer-cursor * { cursor: default }
        </style>
        ```

        % classes.branch = "digital-textures-pointer-cursor"
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        - {style="cursor: default;"}
        :::
        when you have an interactive element and it _doesn't_ have a [pointer]{style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: dotted underline;"} cursor on it, it feels almost _wrong._
        eerie in a way. out of place.\
        like have you noticed this branch is kind of really fucking weird with the default cursor?
        :::

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            - [and this one is _even_ weirder, with unselectable text! (sorry for this. I'm trying to make a point.)]{style="cursor: default; user-select: none;"}

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        - the fact you can press `<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>`{=html} + `<kbd>A</kbd>`{=html} and it selects all text also gives off a texture typical of websites.

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        - the common usage of [hyperlinks][def:word/hyperlink] over buttons is also typical of websites.

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- Git for Windows asks whether you want to use stock Windows `cmd.exe` or mintty.
for as long as I can remember, mintty always felt _wrong_ to me. like the experience was not _Windowsy._
simply because the terminal window is so tiny, the cursor is an I-beam, and the default font used is [Lucida Console]{style="font-family: 'Lucida Console', RecVar;"} rather than [Consolas]{style="font-family: 'Consolas', RecVar;"}.

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    - synaesthetically, it feels to me as if `cmd.exe` is smooth, and mintty is rough. like with `cmd.exe` you're touching matte plastic, an LCD display, and with mintty you're touching a piece of paper or tree bark.