Lightroom moving the mouse pointer programmatically after a button click is a UX violation on par with focus hijacking and scroll hijacking.
Key Takeaways
Programmatic cursor movement breaks a core interaction contract; the author places it alongside focus hijacking mid-typing and uninvited scrolling as “100% sacred” territory.
Style guides cannot preemptively cover every transgression; some violations only surface when you see them, then feel obvious in hindsight.
Neal Agarwal’s cursor-hijacking game demo is the counterexample: context and consent make the same mechanic feel delightful instead of invasive.
An early Figma prototype let users select and Backspace a collaborator’s cursor; it was shelved as too weird but sits in the same design space.
Hacker News Comment Review
The single comment agrees cursor hijacking is worse than scroll hijacking and suggests the Lightroom case could be solved with a highlight or flashing indicator instead.
