on digital textures

  • 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

    2024-02-22
  • 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

    2024-02-22
  • 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.

    2024-02-22
    • you can probably tell this blog is a website just by feeling how it behaves.

      2024-02-22
      • the cursors, where pointer is used for elements that are clickable, and a text cursor is used for text.

        2024-02-22
      • when you have an interactive element and it doesn’t have a pointer 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?

        2024-02-22
        • and this one is even weirder, with unselectable text! (sorry for this. I’m trying to make a point.)

          2024-02-22
      • the fact you can press Ctrl + A and it selects all text also gives off a texture typical of websites.

        2024-02-22
      • the common usage of hyperlinks over buttons is also typical of websites.

        2024-02-22
  • 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 rather than Consolas.

    2024-02-22
    • 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.

      2024-02-22