Trivial, but annoying. The mouse cursor, when in the "finger" state, flickers as you change the mouse's position over a link.

I don't see this on a recent build 10/27 on Mac, marking worksforme, please reopen if you still see on new build thanks

Reopening... When moving the finger cusor over a link, bottom rows of the cursor flicker. Build 2000010208, Mac OS 8.5.1, PowerCenter Pro 210, ATI Rage Orion, ATI Extension 2.6.6, ATI Driver Update 1.4.8, ATI Graphics Accelerator 3.9.8, ATI Resource Manager 1.3, ATI Offscreen Mem Manager 2.0.7

Clearing WorksForMe resolution due to reopen.

Very noticeable problem on Mozilla-Mac-M13 (01.26.2000). An annoyance, but a pretty big one nonetheless. It makes moving the cursor around (especially on pages with lots of links) almost unbearable. PPC G4 w/ OS 9.0

Well on an intial look by saari he didn't see it either but he's graciously agreed to take the bug and look into it further.

I don't see this as I move back and forth across a link on my G3 300 PowerBook. Are you referring to moving over a series of links, in which case the cursor will change as you leave one link and enter another. That is a little annoying, but arguably correct behavior. More importantly, I'm not sure how to "fix" it. Can someone who is seeing this give me more details?

(initial poster) -- I've found the exact same issue with another product that uses the same cursor image. I'm wondering if there's something about that specific image (bit-depth or otherwise) that causes the flicker. I've found similar problems with custom-created cursors (mainly in Director) where the mask is dithered in one row -- but the OS locks it to either on or off. So, during the process of moving the cursor around the screen (with the hand on ... maybe this would be better seen with the CSS cursor syntax??) the dithering effect alters the value of the mask. Then again, maybe this isn't the case. Nevertheless, this specific hand image for the links flickers in the bottom row on every version of Mozilla I've used on three different Macs. It's not so much that I wouldn't use the product, but we've got a bigger mission of making this look like a perfectly robust browser. Things that flicker diminish confidence :)

So the bottom row of pixels of the hand cursor is where you see the flicker? I'm still trying to repro this and don't see it... what is your machine config? Monitor, video card, current resolution, color depth, etc. Running Kalidascope or any other look & feel type of extenstions? I've seen stuff like this where a video card will cache images, and sometimes screw them up. But I've only seen that in the PC world.

I've seen the problem occur on two boxes: one, a "blue and white" G3 Mac with only the standard components (hardware AND software); and two, a PowerComputing PowerCenter 132 (604 chip). The G3 (the machine I'm on at present) is running Mac OS 8.6 and the older box is running OS 8.5. I'm able to reproduce the bug on every build release. I've been looking for screen recording software to post a QuickTime movie of the problem, but I haven't found any worth using. Let me throw out another idea -- I think its a redraw delay. The background may be painting before the foreground cursor -- causing the flicker only when you move the mouse.

It seems to me that Mozilla gets the cursor from Mac OS. Mac OS Help browser uses the same cursor and has the same flickering problem as of Mac OS 8.5.1.

FWIW, I have to agree with henris - several apps display this behavior with the 'hand' cursor (including IE 5 for Mac!). Might not be fixable.

Huh, I too have a blue and white stock G3 450, and I don't see the problem. I'll search Apple tech notes and see if they mention anything about it

Mass moving M17 bugs to M18

Searching through Apple's technotes yields nothing, Tech Info Library gives same (nonexistent) results. I see this on a G4/450, Mac OS 9.0.4, so it has nothing to do with clock speed or OS version. To reproduce this, place the cursor over a link until it turns to the 'hand.' Move cursor horizontally (remaining over the link). The bottom part of the cursor (anywhere from a couple rows of pixels to the bottom half) of the cursor should 'flicker.' This behavior is evident in IE 5, Mac OS Help Viewer, and other apps that use the same '3D Mickey Mouse paw/hand' cursor. Further tests show that monitor resolution/refresh rate affect the severity of this problem (I see the most flickering at 1152 x 870, 75Hz, and the least at 1024 x 768, 85Hz). Stock ATI Rage 128 AGP, no video/display extensions other than ATI drivers. Can someone inside Netscape reproduce/confirm/deny this (as nobody there has been able to yet)?

I think I finally saw this the other day, but I can't reproduce it 100%. The only problem is that I don't know how to go about fixing it!

There are some days when I just LOVE Apple. From ADC technote 1196 posted today: Fighting Flicker Cursor flicker can occur when using color cursors under some circumstances. RAGE 128-based systems may not flush their internal cache on every cursor redraw, causing some or all of the cursor to flicker. This problem can be corrected by utilizing the included CursorFlush library. The CursorFlush header file defines two routines, InitializeCursorFlush and CursorFlush. The former should be called in the CursorInitialize function to set up the flush library. The later should be called when drawing is complete to ensure the video card correctly displays the cursor image without flicker. Read the whole technote for other cursor goodness: http://developer.apple.com/ technotes/tn/tn1196.html Hopefully this helps in clearing this problem up. (Note: I haven't actually read this yet so I'm just assuming that what this bug is describing is what's covered in the snippet.)

The correct URL for "clickableness" is: http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1196.html Stupid Bugzilla - is this line wrapping thing ever going to get fixed?

Might need to grab: ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Development_Kits/Cursor_Component%201.0_SDK.sit.hqx To either include or just figure out how Apple handles cursors so they don't flicker.

mass-moving all bugs to m21 that are not dofood+, or nsbeta2+

Mass update: changing qacontact to ckritzer@netscape.com

Updating QA Contact.

The link to the technote I posted some time ago gives the reason why this happens (and under what circumstances) and how to fix it. Stolen from Apple: Cursor flicker can occur when using color cursors under some circumstances. RAGE 128-based systems may not flush their internal cache on every cursor redraw, causing some or all of the cursor to flicker. This problem can be corrected by utilizing the included CursorFlush library. The CursorFlush header file defines two routines, InitializeCursorFlush and CursorFlush. The former should be called in the CursorInitialize function to set up the flush library. The later should be called when drawing is complete to ensure the video card correctly displays the cursor image without flicker. The CursorFlush header file is included with the Cursor Components SDK, which I also included a link to. I believe this to be the problem as I recently purchased and installed an ATI Radeon graphics accelerator and the problem no longer occured. (But then my G4 decided to break and I had to return the Radeon and now I'm stuck with the Rage 128 until I find the time to get the computer fixed. Life sucks.)

Reassigning QA Contact for all open and unverified bugs previously under Lorca's care to Gerardo as per phone conversation this morning.

Since the majority of Macs shipped within the last ~3 years included Rage 128-based graphics accelerators, is there any chance this could sneak into 0.9 or 1.0 (assuming it's an easy fix)? According to Apple, RAGE 128-based systems may not flush their internal cache on every cursor redraw, causing some or all of the cursor to flicker. The links in earlier comments (for the technote and Cursor Components SDK) are still valid.

QA contact updated

Adam is correct; cursor flicker is addressed in "TN 1196: Cursor Components," at [http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1196.html#Section5]. As I have a Rage 128 video card, I can confirm this occurs. Adding URL value. Proposing for Mozilla 0.9.6, but downgrading to Trivial as this is a cosmetic problem rather than a functional one. Saari, is this assigned to the correct component?

It should also be noted that Mac IE 5 seems to use the same hand cursor, and produces the same flicker. So is this really a system cursor, and this is an Apple bug? Can anyone find this cursor in any other apps?

This problem does not occur under Mac OS X 10.1 in either Mozilla or IE.

Resolving WONTFIX since this is a classic-Mac OS-only issue.