Question

I found these CSS attributes, that make the cursor look like a hand:

• IE – style=”cursor: hand;”
• NS6/ IE6 – style=”cursor: pointer;”
• Cross Browser – style=”cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;”

However I notice that Stack Overflow is using “cursor: pointer” in its CSS.
However, this apparently work also on IE.

So … what gives? What is the correct, browser-independent way to use this CSS item?

Answer 1

According to Quirksmode, the only cross-browser syntax is:

element {
    cursor: pointer;
    cursor: hand;
}

They give some more information about the cursor as well:

In the past the hand value was
Microsoft’s way of saying pointer; and
IE 5.0 and 5.5 only support hand.
Because it’s the cursor value that’s
used most often, most other browsers
have also implemented hand.

Since IE 6 and 7 support pointer,
there’s no more reason to use hand,
except when older IEs are part of your
target audience.

I think the page you linked to might be a little outdated with the newest browsers.