Using pointer mouse cursor shape on controls
Microsoft
- talks about affordance
- https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/dn742466.aspx
- talks about navigational elements vs action elements
W3C
- The cursor is a pointer that indicates a link.
- https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/ui.html#propdef-cursor
According that, all the classic controls (buttons, checkboxes, comboboxes, etc.) should have a default cursor when hovering on them. The default cursor has the arrow shape.
Links in text and other graphics objects that are not intuitively clickable should have the pointer cursor. The pointer cursor looks like a hand.
Do you really use the pointer (the hand) cursor for links only? In my perspective, using the pointer on controls is a lot nicer while it appears to be not according to a guidance.
I don't get the Google's version as well.
Let's say that we have two buttons next to each other. One opens a new window and the second one clears a console. So semantically it means the first takes you to the new location (a navigational element) and the second one just clears the text in an existing window (an action element). The first button then must have the pointer cursor (the hand shape) and the second one just the default one (the arrow shape). That must be so confusing for a user.