Hand Pointer is a system extension that, when installed, replaces the mouse's arrow pointer with a hand pointer similar to that used in the Be OS.
To install, just drop it into your Extensions folder and restart your computer.
Who wrote it?
Matthias Ulrich wrote and released an extension named Color Cursor several years ago. Since then, a number of people have released modified versions with other cursor styles, ranging from from the colorful and psychedelic to the Coplandesque and BeOSish.
Even though nobody has been able to contact Matthias Ulrich (myself included), it seems that by the actions of the Macintosh community, it has been agreed that Color Cursor is a "public domain template" that people can use to distribute interesting cursor styles.
Other cursor styles that I can remember at the moment are Jeff's Cursor, Copland Cursor, 3D Cursor, and my own Hand Pointer (and its cousin, Left Handed Pointer). There are probably many others in circulation.
So, until otherwise stated, Hand Pointer (and all of the other Color Cursor variants) are free to do with as you see fit (but be nice and don't ask for any money for it).
What's Left Handed Pointer?
If you're left-handed, does it feel awkward to use a mouse in your left hand and still have the arrow pointer pointing to the left? If so, you might want to consider using Left Handed Pointer. When installed, the hand pointer points to the right instead of the left.
What's new in version 1.1?
Hand Pointer has gotten a lot of attention lately. It has been linked to from Be, Inc's Web site, included with other freeware packages and shareware programs, and it was even uploaded as $5 shareware to the software libraries on America Online with somebody else's name on it.
Anyway, I felt that due to this attention I should provide some better documentation.
Due to requests, Hand Pointer now includes Left Handed Pointer.
Lastly, I have a new email address.
What's in the "Goodies" folder?
A couple ResEdit resource files have been included that extend Hand Pointer a little further. If you correctly apply the modifitations into the respective browsers, Netscape Navigator and Cyberdog will show a Hand Pointer-like cursor when you move the mouse over a clickable area.
To install the new resources, copy the contents of the ResEdit resource files to the Clipboard and paste them into either your copy of Netscape Navigator or your Cyberdog Editors file (which is found in your "System Folder:Editors:Cyberdog Libraries" folder).
Do you have any questions? Comments? Information on the whereabout of Matthias Ulrich?
