Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Making mouse pointer snap to icons (like photoshop)

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    153

    Making mouse pointer snap to icons (like photoshop)

    I'm wondering if there is anyway to make the mouse pointer snap to icons of desktop and clickable links in firefox (just like the same thing we have in photoshop...you know...)

    Thank y'all

    PS. for example when I want to post here, I need to click on "post reply". So I would like that when the pointer gets close to this item, it snaps to it so that I wouldn't have to go exactly on top of it.....
    Last edited by boyboy400; December 11th, 2010 at 08:39 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member JPnyc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    2,734
    None that I know of. If you weren't using FF you could just hit alt-s on the keyboard.

  3. #3
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    I am not aware of this facility in any version of Windows.

    I guess it would probably involve a fair bit of systems overhead, and how would it know which icon to go to?

    A lot of screens have numerous active icons, so I could imagine the "feature" getting pretty annoying in a short space of time?

    I could see it working with certain specific applications but not as a general OS feature.

  4. #4
    Keeping The Balance CybertecOne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    660
    along with many time saving management tools such as remote desktop manager etc on windows machines, on a Mac I use 'QuickSilver' which allows you to define custom shortcuts on your keyboard to launch particular apps. for instance, option+s launches safari, option+E launches text editor. option+X opens system preferences......

    would this be something you are looking for? I am unsure if there is a similar program for windows, or perhaps quicksilver offers a win dist. ?? worth investigating
    "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius --- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."
    - Albert Einstein

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    153
    Sorry that it took me such a long time to come back here and thanks y'll guys.
    Actually what you say CybertecOne is quite helpful although it's not exactly what I meant.

    In PhotoShop there's an option that if you select it and then select a color from your picture, whenever the pointer gets close to any instance of that color, it kind of snaps to it!!!! (or such a thing maybe I'm not that exact...or maybe it only works with lines....I just have it in mind, not sure about it though)...It can be very helpful when you want to select something...

    Since I have my keyboard mouse activated and many times I use it instead of changing the positions of my hands off the keyboard, grabbing the mouse and etc, I was wondering if such a thing can exist on Windows machines...

    Now that I'm thinking about it from a programmer's point of view, as Nihil said, maybe there can not be a criterion set up for the pointer to snap to the objects...you know for example maybe a certain radius around the icon should be defined for the pointer to snap to it and then in a webpage, if the clickable items are close to each other, there will be problems recognizing which item to snap to..!!!! So now, I don't think if such a thing does exist as you guys said...

    But your suggestion to assign shortcuts to applications sound like a good idea....I'm gonna give it a try..

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Myrtle Beach, SC
    Posts
    238
    How about with voice? Speech recognition can be used to control your computer. It's alot easier than clicking

    Dragon Naturally Speaking
    http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

    Windows Vista and 7 have it built in.
    http://www.microsoft.com/enable/prod...ta/speech.aspx

  7. #7
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United Kingdom: Bridlington
    Posts
    17,188
    Yes, but setting up voice commands?...............like this box has 38 icons on the front page.......quite a few of those lead to applications with vastly different interfaces????

    I guess that the problems lies at the level of detail you are handling?

    If you are actually into an application such as photoshop, then the choices are much more limited.

    I guess what BoyBoy is describing is something like "find next" when you are doing a Windows search. You have opened the file and are just looking for occurrences of the same data string?

    Now, you can set Windows to go to the next tab, or entry point, but I don't think that is what is being asked for?

    I would say the problem is there are just to many potential variables at higher levels.

  8. #8
    Senior Member JPnyc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    2,734
    Quote Originally Posted by nihil View Post
    Yes, but setting up voice commands?...............like this box has 38 icons on the front page.......quite a few of those lead to applications with vastly different interfaces????

    I guess that the problems lies at the level of detail you are handling?

    If you are actually into an application such as photoshop, then the choices are much more limited.

    I guess what BoyBoy is describing is something like "find next" when you are doing a Windows search. You have opened the file and are just looking for occurrences of the same data string?

    Now, you can set Windows to go to the next tab, or entry point, but I don't think that is what is being asked for?

    I would say the problem is there are just to many potential variables at higher levels.
    Surprisingly enough, it actually works quite well. I'm using windows seven voice control right now. It's dictating this post as well.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Myrtle Beach, SC
    Posts
    238
    Yea, I too was surprised at how well it actually worked. Especially being built into the OS! You don't even have to set up voice commands. The "show number" voice command overlays your whole desktop with numbers and you choose what ever number corresponds to what it is you want to do. There is also a mouse grid command that allows you to control the mouse. Speech recognition has come a long way. Microsoft's version It still has a few bugs and wont work well with every program, however it still gets the job done. Nuances Dragon naturally speaking is suppose to set the standard for Speech Recognition. I haven't tried it yet, but I imagine it has to be 10 times better than one that is built into an OS.

Similar Threads

  1. Genral Windows Tips
    By Nokia in forum Tips and Tricks
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: June 12th, 2004, 05:36 PM
  2. Mouse Gestures
    By Soda_Popinsky in forum Tips and Tricks
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: June 4th, 2004, 01:17 AM
  3. The history of the Mac line of Operating systems
    By gore in forum Operating Systems
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: March 7th, 2004, 08:02 AM
  4. hardware problem (ps/2 mouse)
    By ele5125 in forum Newbie Security Questions
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: July 7th, 2002, 09:57 PM
  5. windoze "smart" file extensions & mouse balls
    By sumdumguy in forum AntiOnline's General Chit Chat
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: March 16th, 2002, 07:12 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •