Mouse Cursor Theme

I wanted a different cursor set, looked around, found nothing I liked, and decided to draw one myself.

How far I got

Using Axialis CursorWorkshop, I drew source images for 5 states at 512×512, each with a layered PSD kept alongside it:

• Normal select (cursor_normal)
• Hover / link select (cursor_hover)
• Click (cursor_click_custom)
• Busy (cursor_busy)
• Text input (cursor_text_input)

Why it stopped there

A complete Windows cursor theme needs a dozen or so states (unavailable, the various resize directions, move, alternate select and the rest), then the source images have to be exported to .cur for static states and .ani for animated ones, and finally an .inf has to register the theme with the system.

I stopped before the export and registration step: the source images exist, the .cur / .ani files were never exported, and the .inf was never written. So the set cannot be installed — it just sits in a folder.

The intent at the time was “draw a couple and see how they look”. After five I realised how long the remaining state list was and put it down. I have not gone back to it since, so this is honestly marked shelved rather than finished.

If I pick it up again

Draw the remaining states → export .cur / .ani from the PSDs (watch the aliasing when downscaling from 512) → write the .inf that registers the theme. There is a complete reference set sitting in the same folder, so I can follow its state list and inf structure rather than starting from nothing.

Left behind

The authoring tool, a complete reference set, generic one-click install scripts and INF templates are all kept in the same folder, so restarting does not mean hunting for them again.