A mousepad (US) or mouse mat (UK) is a surface for placing and moving a computer mouse. A mousepad enhances the usability of the mouse compared to using a mouse directly on a table by providing a surface to allow it to measure movement accurately and without jitter. Some mousepads increase ergonomics by providing a padded wrist rest.
History
During a 1968 presentation by Douglas Engelbart marking the
public debut of a mouse, Engelbart used a control console designed by Jack
Kelley of Herman Miller that included a keyboard and an inset portion used as a
support area for the mouse. According to Kelley and also stated by Alex Pang,
Kelley designed the first mousepad a year later, in 1969.
Details of a mousepad designed by Armando M. Fernandez were
published in the Xerox Disclosure Journal in 1979 with the description:
- CRT Cursor Control Mechanism Pad:
To assist the operation of a cathode ray tube pointer 10 wherein a metal ball is rolled on a hard surface, the disclosed pad may be utilized. A resilient, rubber-like material 12 is bonded or otherwise attached to a hard base material 14 which keeps the rubber-like material flat. The base has four rubber-like pads 16 on the opposite side from the resilient material to refrain the pad from sliding on the surface of a table, for instance.
—Xerox Disclosure Journal, Volume 4, Number 6,
November/December 1979
By 1982, most users of the Xerox ball mouse were using
"special pads" to increase the friction of the ball.
The Oxford English Dictionary tracks the term mouse pad to
the 25 August 1983, publication of InfoWorld, and the predominantly British
term mousemat to 17 October 1989, in the publication 3D.
Benefits
The three most important benefits of the introduction of the
mousepad were higher speed, more precision, and comfort for the user. A
secondary benefit was keeping the desk or table surface from being scratched
and worn by continuous hand and mouse rubbing motion. Another benefit was
reduction of the collection of debris under the mouse, which resulted in
reduced jitter of the pointer on the display.
When optical mice, which use image sensors to detect
movement, were first introduced into the market, they required special
mousepads with optical patterns printed on them. Modern optical mice can
function to an acceptable degree of accuracy on plain paper and other surfaces.
However, some optical mouse users (especially gamers, designers, and other
heavy users) may prefer a mousepad for comfort, speed and accuracy, and to
prevent wear to the desk or table surface.
Types
A variety of mousepads exist with many different textured
surfaces to fit various types of mouse technologies. Vinyl board cover, because
of its natural adhesive properties, was a popular mousepad surface around 1980.
After the steel mouse ball was given a silicone rubber
surface, the popular fabric-surface mousepad was found to be the most
appropriate. It helped keep the rubberized roller-ball surface cleaner and gave
better tracking, speed and accuracy than just a desk surface. Such surfaces
collected dirt which was then deposited onto the internal rollers that picked
off ball movement. Dirty rollers caused erratic pointer movement on the screen.
Early types of optical mice have the problem of not working
well on transparent or reflective surfaces such as glass or highly polished
wood. These surfaces, which often include desk and table surfaces, cause jitter
and loss of tracking on the display pointer as the mouse moves over these
reflective spots. The use of mousepads with precision surfaces eliminates spot
jitter effects of older and/or low-quality optical mice.
Materials
Modern mousepads are typically made of lesser density rubber
composites (open cell styrene, butadiene rubber or open cell SBR) with fabric
bonded to the upper surface. However, many other types of material have been
used, including fabric, plastics, recycled rubber tires, neoprene, silicone
rubber, leather, glass, cork, wood, aluminum, stone and stainless steel.
High-quality gaming mats are usually made from plastic, glass, aluminum or
high-tech fibers
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