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 <span style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: dotted underline;">pointer</span> is used for elements that are clickable,
        and a text cursor is used for text.

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

        % classes.branch = "digital-textures-pointer-cursor"
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        - <span style="cursor: default;">
        when you have an interactive element and it <em>doesn't</em> have a <span style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: dotted underline;">pointer</span> cursor on it, it feels almost <em>wrong.</em>
        eerie in a way. out of place.<br>
        like have you noticed this branch is kind of really fucking weird with the default cursor?
        </span>

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            - <span style="cursor: default; user-select: none;">and this one is *even* weirder, with unselectable text! (sorry for this. I'm trying to make a point.)</span>

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        - the fact you can press <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>A</kbd> 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 <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console', RecVar;">Lucida Console</span> rather than <span style="font-family: 'Consolas', RecVar;">Consolas</span>.

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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.