MOUSEPADS MOUSEMATS THE FACTS
A mousepad, or mouse mat, is a surface for enhancing the movement of a computer mouse.
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 & an inset portion used as a support area for the
mouse.
According to Kelley & 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 CURSER 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 mousepads.
Benefits
The three most important benefits of the
introduction of the mousepad were higher speed, more precision, & comfort
for the user. A secondary benefit was keeping the desk or table surface from being
scratched & worn by continuous hand & 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 & other surfaces. However, some optical mouse users may prefer a mousepad for comfort, speed & accuracy, & to prevent wear to the desk or table surface.
Types
A
variety of mousepads exist with many different textured surfaces to fit various
different types of mouse technologies. Vinyl board cover, because of its tackiness,
was a popular mousepad surface around 1980.
After the rubberized silicon surface was incorporated onto the surface of the steel roller ball mouse, the popular fabric-surface mousepad was found to be the most appropriate. It helped keep the rubberized roller-ball surface cleaner & with better tracking, speed & accuracy than just a desk surface, which collected dirt & slowed the mouse's motion.
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 & table surfaces, cause jitter & 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 modern optical mice.
Designs
Originally, mousepads
were available in a simple rectangular shape. In recent years, though, they have
been available in many shapes & designs. Ergonomic designs are available with
built-in wrist rests made of silicone gel, foamed & beaded materials.
Companies sometimes give away mousepads for promotional reasons, & computer manufacturers often include a mousepad with their logo on it, usually with technical support information. Many artists have published work on mousepads. And many great companies sell better ones.
There is now a fairly large variety of high quality "gaming grade" mousepads. In the beginning there were only a few such manufacturers: Everglide (arguably the first to come onto the market), fUnc Industries, Icemat, SteelSeries & Ratpadz (made by [H]ard|OCP). In 2005 several more companies followed suit, including Razer, Qpad, Corepad, Xtracpads, X-Ray, Gamerzstuff, Ideazon, & Allsop. These pads are available in a wide variety of sizes to suit the different sensitivity settings that gamers choose. The Corepad Deskpad XXXL, possibly the largest pad on the market, is a massive 90cm x 45cm.
Materials
Modern
mousepads are typically made of foam rubber with fabric bonded to the upper surface.
However, many other types of material have been used, including fabric, plastics,
recycled rubber tires, silicone rubber, leather, glass, cork, wood, aluminum,
stone & stainless steel, for example. High-quality gaming mats are usually
made from plastic or high-tech fibers.
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