Dark Editor Mouse Pointer - Again

[dmaixner93]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.64.0
• OS Version: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 & Monterey 12.1 (Checked two different systems)

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Open VSCode
2. Select a dark theme
3. Observe text cursor

I opened an issue back in May 2020 in regards to this "issue". This may also fit as a "feature request", as I am aware that this also may be more of a personal preference.

Before updating to 1.64.0 the mouse pointer appearance "inverted". (This screenshot is from X Code, but I can confirm that this was the style in VSCode before updating to 1.64.0)

After updating to 1.64.0 the cursor appears like with a black center and a white outline making it "thicker".

As mentioned above, this might be more of a personal preference. I like to use the text cursor for assistance when scanning code (as I imagine a lot of fellow coders do) and I find that the "light mode" cursor blocks text. But I can also understand the preference for the "thicker"/light mode cursor on a dark surface.

Would this be a possible setting to add to the settings? I believe it would also help avoid future "issues" regarding the mouse pointer.

Thanks for all your help and time.

[alexdima]

Here's some background:

• since quite some time, on macOS, we have been using a custom text cursor (I) because the text cursor would render black-on-black and would not be visible when using vscode with a dark theme
• since macOS Catalina the native cursor has a white border which makes it work well also on dark themes, making our custom cursor not necessary
• macOS High Sierra is no longer supported by Apple (since autumn 2021), so we can assume we don't need to support it anymore
• the custom cursor we have been shipping would override custom system cursor settings, which are sometimes used to make the cursor more visible, like for high-contrast. see Accessibility: Dark Themes override text selection mouse cursor #140490

Have you tried tweaking Accessibility > Display > Pointer to find something that might work better for you?

[dmaixner93]

Very interesting. Everything you mentioned makes a lot more sense. In the early days of dark themes, the text pointer appeared to be an over sight.

If we are stuck to the system-provided cursor, then, so be it. Sometimes just knowing the story behind the item is enough.

Unfortunately with macOS, there is not much tweaking. Can only make the cursor larger, which really just hides even more.

[saiballo]

same problem on ubuntu 22.04 and dark theme.

I selected dmz-white pointer but on panels of vscode the pointer is black