In reality, the cursor is a single pixel big. This pixel is bound to the screen. With a standard cursor, this pixel is located in the top left of the arrow, at the very tip. The cursor you see is just an image attached to that pixel.
Since this pixel can’t leave the screen, when you move to the right or bottom, the pixel is still on the screen (albiet at the very extreme edge) but the rest of the cursor image is off the screen. Going to the top or left, since that pixel is bound to the screen, the image of the cursor can’t go off.
The point of the cursor is at the top left and it is the reference point of what you’re actually pointing at and it is the thing that really has to reach all points on screen and the rest is just an animation. So at the top and left side it will hit the bounds and stop with the animation on the bottom right still visible but when it hits the bounds bottom and right this animation being bottom right of the actual point moves out of bounds/isn’t displayed anymore.
You can go into your mouse options and set your cursor to a crosshair, which naturally clicks at its center. If you do so, you’ll be able to put half your cursor off of every edge – and at the corners you’ll only have a quarter visible.
It’s purely a convention steeped in what’s proven to be useful that the mouse pointer doesn’t actually surround the single pixel to be clicked, but instead minimizes the obscuring effect to a portion of a single quadrant.
Latest Answers