It’s from way back when computers only had text interfaces. A filled rectangle showed you where the next character you type would appear. And I guess they made it blink for several reasons.
It makes it easier to see. It makes it easier to tell apart from other letters and symbols. And if it is on top of an existing letter it enables you to see that letter. And I guess it’s a nice call to action; see that blinking thing -> do something with it.
With time it was thinned to a line but it still shows the user where text will appear when they press a key on their keyboard. And now that it is so thin the blinking still makes it easier to see.
“Thinned to a line” makes it sound like it was an aesthetic change. The solid block means “a character will go in this spot, and if there is already something in this spot the new character will overwrite it”. And the line means “a character will go in between whatever is to the left and right of this line”. And you might switch between them for various reasons.
It’s from way back when computers only had text interfaces. A filled rectangle showed you where the next character you type would appear. And I guess they made it blink for several reasons.
It makes it easier to see. It makes it easier to tell apart from other letters and symbols. And if it is on top of an existing letter it enables you to see that letter. And I guess it’s a nice call to action; see that blinking thing -> do something with it.
With time it was thinned to a line but it still shows the user where text will appear when they press a key on their keyboard. And now that it is so thin the blinking still makes it easier to see.
This… and the ^ mimics the teletype/typewriter position indicator.
“Thinned to a line” makes it sound like it was an aesthetic change. The solid block means “a character will go in this spot, and if there is already something in this spot the new character will overwrite it”. And the line means “a character will go in between whatever is to the left and right of this line”. And you might switch between them for various reasons.
Nice ! (also : typo @
uaereuser )