Change the mouse pointer using JavaScript

Question

I wanted to use a script to change the mouse pointer on my website using JavaScript. It\'s better done by CSS but my requirement is of a script that can be distributed to ma

Answer 1

Javascript is pretty good at manipulating css.

 document.body.style.cursor = *cursor-url*;
 //OR
 var elementToChange = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
 elementToChange.style.cursor = "url('cursor url with protocol'), auto";

or with jquery:

$("html").css("cursor: url('cursor url with protocol'), auto");

Firefox will not work unless you specify a default cursor after the imaged one!

other cursor keywords

Also remember that IE6 only supports .cur and .ani cursors.

If cursor doesn't change: In case you are moving the element under the cursor relative to the cursor position (e.g. element dragging) you have to force a redraw on the element:

// in plain js
document.getElementById('parentOfElementToBeRedrawn').style.display = 'none';
document.getElementById('parentOfElementToBeRedrawn').style.display = 'block';
// in jquery
$('#parentOfElementToBeRedrawn').hide().show(0);

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working sample:









hello with a fancy cursor!