#2073: Feelback

My computer desktop is a flat surface which replicates the uniform, physical nature of the screen itself exactly.

Today’s invention is a way to introduce more interest and feedback from items on the desktop and thus add extra engagement with elements on one’s computer screen (assuming it’s not a touchscreen).

Each window, border, icon, etc would have a defined depth and texture.

As I run my cursor across a desktop item, the cursor would shrink or expand noticeably, according to whether it was defined to be set more deeply or less deeply into the screen. Bringing items to the ‘front’ would make the cursor bigger when subsequently moving over them.

Secondly, the machine would emit a different sound as the cursor was traversing a screen element labeled rough than over one identified as smooth.

These parameters would be linked to the local visual pattern so that a cross-hatched area would make a rasping sound whilst a glassy, reflective region would cause the cursor to apparently make either a gliding, swishing noise or perhaps the squeaking sound of a dry finger on glass.