by Armando M. Fernandez, a technician at Xerox at that time. Fernandez
claims he was the first to invent, name and document the mousepad. The
computer mouse at that time had been improved to incorporate a rolling
steel ball as an upside-down trackball. However, the steel ball still
collected debris, causing the internal rollers to stick and skip, and thereby
causing the pointer movement to become jittery and inaccurate on the
display; this sticking problem was solved by the traction of rolling on a
customized surface mousepad.
After the 1979 Fernandez publication, the mousepad soon became a key
element of office computers, proving itself on computers such as the
Xerox Alto (built about 1973), and Xerox Star 8010 office workstation in
the 1980s. The first mousepad made by Fernandez consisted of a silicone
rubber sheet surface material secured to a rectangular clipboard with the
same silicone rubber sheet material secured at the bottom of the
clipboard as anti-slide feet. The silicone rubber surface was required to
develop the needed traction for the steel roller-ball to perform effectively.
At a later time the rubberized silicone surface was incorporated as a
covering over the steel roller ball in order to improve needed traction.
Benefits of the mousepad
The three most important benefits of the introduction of the mousepad
were higher speed, more precision, and comfort for the user. A
secondary benefit was keeping the desk or table surface from being
scratched and worn by continuous hand and 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 were introduced into the market, they required special
mousepads with appropriate optical patterns, as distinct from the
mechanical properties of mousepads for ball mice.
Types of mousepads
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.
When the first optical mouse appeared in the mid-1980s, it required a
mousepad with printed hexagons in order to improve accuracy, speed
and comfort; it was incapable of functioning on any other surface. 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 and with better tracking, speed and accuracy than just a desk
surface, which collected dirt and slowed the mouse's motion.
The hexagon-printed mousepads gave way to more accurate and speedy
ones, with fabric material which provided a microscopically textured
surface. Some mousepads for optical mice are shiny and gridded;
although, newer optical mice do not require mousepads on most surfaces
when precission, speed and comfort is not needed by the user.
Specialized pads are used when extra accuracy is needed. Additionally, a
number of paddings placed on various places on the mousepad increases
comfort to the user.
Designs
Originally, mousepads were available in a simple rectangular shape. In
recent years, though, they have been available in many shapes and
designs. Ergonomic designs are available with built-in wrist rests made of
silicone gel, foamed and beaded materials.
Companies often give away mousepads for promotional reasons, and
computer manufacturers often include a mousepad with their logo on it,
usually with technical support information. Many artists have published
work on mousepads.
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 and Ratpadz (made by [H]ard|OCP). In 2005 several
more companies followed suit, including Razer, Qpad, Corepad,
Xtracpads, X-Ray, Gamerzstuff, and 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.
Mousepad 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 and stainless steel, for
example. High-quality gaming mats are usually made from plastic.
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