New style cursor is wider on non-retina displays, obscures adjacent characters

[msephton]

(Lots of people still use non-retina display as their main displays. Let's not discuss why/not here.)

The issue is that the new style cursor in Sonoma appears wider on non-retina displays. Most crucially this makes reading the adjacent characters more difficult. One could argue that the problem also applies on retina displays.

The cursor measures 4px wide on retina displays and 3px wide on non-retina displays. You’d expect the cursor width to be 2px on non-retina displays, but then it wouldn’t have any rounded edges (which I'm guessing is the reason they made it wider on non-retina displays). So the cursor is proven to be wider, by 50%.

Screenshots show SF Mono Medium 13pt, in the CotEditor text editor app, though the issue is present across many apps.

QUIZ

What character precedes the cursor? (non-retina display)

spoiler:

How about now? (retina display)

answer: it's the letter c

 

[Pierre535]

??????

 

[Bigwaff]

??????

Agreed. I have 2K Apple Thunderbolt Display, I’m using Sonoma, and can see the characters before the cursor just fine. I guess OP considers their experience and subjective opinion (and possibly poor eyesight) a fact for everyone.

 

[svenmany]

Agreed. I have 2K Apple Thunderbolt Display, I’m using Sonoma, and can see the characters before the cursor just fine. I guess OP considers their experience and subjective opinion (and possibly poor eyesight) a fact for everyone.

I disagree. I look at the top picture they posted and the cursor is blocking the right side of the character. You wouldn't be able to tell whether it's an "o" or a "c". In the second picture, which is of the retina display, the right side of the character is not blocked. This has nothing to do with poor eyesight or subjective opinion.

 

[Slartibart]

I disagree. I look at the top picture they posted and the cursor is blocking the right side of the character. You wouldn't be able to tell whether it's an "o" or a "c". In the second picture, which is of the retina display, the right side of the character is not blocked. This has nothing to do with poor eyesight or subjective opinion.

Well, a screenshot with the cursor on the right side of all those letter would clarify wether this is a problem, wouldn’t it?

IMHO the mix up could occur only between »c« and »d«, but then again I can’t really imagine in what scenario while typing this is a real problem… in "gravity" it‘s out there together with "depending on font size, big parts of several latin alphabet letters can be obscured by the mouse pointer when it’s placed over a word” 😀.

Obviously YMMV.

 

[svenmany]

Well, a screenshot with the cursor on the right side of all those letter would clarify wether this is a problem, wouldn’t it?

It would. The second screenshot from a retina display shows how the character should look. The first screenshot shows it not looking that way on a different display. So, that clarifies that this is a problem.

There's no doubt this is a bug. The cursor should not be overlapping the letter at all. I might consider calling Apple support to make sure they are aware of the issue. Maybe they'd have a suggestion to solve it.

Our brains will fill in the character that's there based on context, so most wouldn't mistake what character is displayed. In the top image, that character could have been an "o", "c", "q', or "d" (that I can think of). With other fonts and other character sets altogether, there could be many more ambiguities.

A bug's a bug. The complaint is valid. I would find it annoying and slightly disconcerting. I'm happy I don't have the problem on any of my monitors. Then again, I even hate fingerprints on my screen.

 

[gilby101]

A bug's a bug.

With respect, I don't agree. It is a design decision. And that design decision is, at least in part, that of the app developer.

CotEditor text editor app

That is the root of the problem. Have you considered another editor or does Cot Editor have settings for the cursor?

Looking at other editors:

• Sublime Text is like Cot Editor. And the cursor obscures the character edge on Retina screen unless the font is really big.
• BBEdit shows a flashing cursor which makes the text readable. Just like Safari does. As an aside, there are good reasons why BBEdit is so popular.

So, I strongly suggest, BBEdit on low resolution screens.

 

[svenmany]

With respect, I don't agree. It is a design decision. And that design decision is, at least in part, that of the app developer.


That is the root of the problem. Have you considered another editor or does Cot Editor have settings for the cursor?

Looking at other editors:

• Sublime Text is like Cot Editor. And the cursor obscures the character edge on Retina screen unless the font is really big.
• BBEdit shows a flashing cursor which makes the text readable. Just like Safari does. As an aside, there are good reasons why BBEdit is so popular.

So, I strongly suggest, BBEdit on low resolution screens.

I'll defer to your expertise. I wasn't aware that the app developer was involved in pixel level adjustment of cursor positioning for different monitor resolutions. I had thought it was just some standard macOS toolkit component that took care of that and would be responsible for adjusting to different screen resolutions.

I looked at BBEdit and Sublime on my retina display. They did not exhibit the overlap that the first screenshot did. Of course I had to watch carefully in BBEdit to when the cursor displayed - but it was just to the right of the character when it did.

It could be that it is subjective after all. The distinction between "overlap" and "abut" seems to be too subtle for most. Too bad the OP has a keen eye.

I also love BBEdit and use it every day. But, it's a shame to abandon a program one enjoys because of some change in Sonoma. Perhaps reporting this to the Cot Editor developers could get them to push out an update.

 

[gilby101]

It could be that it is subjective after all. The distinction between "overlap" and "abut" seems to be too subtle for most. Too bad the OP has a keen eye.

Yes. So much is subjective.

Perhaps reporting this to the Cot Editor developers could get them to push out an update.

The option for a gently flashing cursor would be good start.

 

[msephton]

??????

Which word did you get stuck on? 😂

Agreed. I have 2K Apple Thunderbolt Display, I’m using Sonoma, and can see the characters before the cursor just fine. I guess OP considers their experience and subjective opinion (and possibly poor eyesight) a fact for everyone.

Not at all, but what I do know is that the number 3 is greater than the number 2 by a factor of 1.5x or 50%. 🧮

I noticed this immediately after upgrading from Monterey to Sonoma this week, as it affected my accuracy and confidence in editing text and code. The problem is new with Sonoma, and affects many existing apps. This is not down to the app developer as many of the apps that are affected were just fine prior to Sonoma.

The issue is not subjective at all. The cursor is measurably 50% wider on non-retina displays, (3px rather than the expected 2px), and because of that visibly overlaps neighbouring characters. It's impossible to state what character is before the cursor, it could be one of a handful. I presented empirical evidence, take it or leave it.

The phenomenon is not limited to CotEditor, this was just my choice of app to show the issue as I had it open at the time. Given that the issue is new and results from a change in macOS, I consider it a usability regression (I would not describe it as a bug).

If I was still a designer at Apple I would push for the width of the cursor on non-retina displays to be reduced to the expected 2px and forgo the rounded edges. Then the visibility would be closer to that of retina displays.

Anyway, I reported it as FB13536508 and I am assured by a friend still on the inside that it has some eyes on it.

 

[galad]

I doubt there is even a single person at Apple running a non Retina display, judging by the amount of broken things.

 

[msephton]

I fear you are correct.

 

[gilby101]

I consider it a usability regression

The right description. Better than my design decision.

 

[msephton]

Workaround found!

Make macOS think your non-retina display is retina by editing the Scale factors (from 1 to 2) in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.displays…plist

Doing this reduces the cursor to 2px wide, the same as on a retina screen.

So it makes it a little more clear, though still not as good as pre-Sonoma, but just enough for things to not bother me and I can continue working as fluidly as I normally do.

Side effects are that screenshots also come out as retina, so twice the "real" resolution.