Change cursor apearance to a letter

Question

The question is: how do I make the cursor look like a letter (eg. a chess figure "&#9817")?

I am aware of the possible "pointer" etc. and using an as a cursor but changing all of the letters to images seems too tedious and having to define it for every chess figure.. perhaps some CSS or JavaScript code? (cursor: "&#9817" -- something like this except working)

Answer 1

Use cursor:none and have an element with the letter of your choice follow the mouse around.

Answer 2

Demo

html

<h1>Cursors</h1>

<div class="cursors">
    <div class="auto">auto</div>
    <div class="default">default</div>
    <div class="none">none</div>
    <div class="context-menu">context-menu</div>
    <div class="help">help</div>
    <div class="pointer">pointer</div>
    <div class="progress">progress</div>
    <div class="wait">wait</div>
    <div class="cell">cell</div>
    <div class="crosshair">crosshair</div>
    <div class="text">text</div>                        <---- this one
    <div class="vertical-text">vertical-text</div>
    <div class="alias">alias</div>
    <div class="copy">copy</div>
    <div class="move">move</div>
    <div class="no-drop">no-drop</div>
    <div class="not-allowed">not-allowed</div>
    <div class="all-scroll">all-scroll</div>
    <div class="col-resize">col-resize</div>
    <div class="row-resize">row-resize</div>
    <div class="n-resize">n-resize</div>
    <div class="s-resize">s-resize</div>
    <div class="e-resize">e-resize</div>
    <div class="w-resize">w-resize</div>
    <div class="ns-resize">ns-resize</div>
    <div class="ew-resize">ew-resize</div>
    <div class="ne-resize">ne-resize</div>
    <div class="nw-resize">nw-resize</div>
    <div class="se-resize">se-resize</div>
    <div class="sw-resize">sw-resize</div>
    <div class="nesw-resize">nesw-resize</div>
    <div class="nwse-resize">nwse-resize</div>
</div>

css

.auto            { cursor: auto; }
.deafult         { cursor: default; }
.none            { cursor: none; }
.context-menu    { cursor: context-menu; }
.help            { cursor: help; }
.pointer         { cursor: pointer; }
.progress        { cursor: progress; }
.wait            { cursor: wait; }
.cell            { cursor: cell; }
.crosshair       { cursor: crosshair; }
.text            { cursor: text; }                      <---- this one
.vertical-text   { cursor: vertical-text; }
.alias           { cursor: alias; }
.copy            { cursor: copy; }
.move            { cursor: move; }
.no-drop         { cursor: no-drop; }
.not-allowed     { cursor: not-allowed; }
.all-scroll      { cursor: all-scroll; }
.col-resize      { cursor: col-resize; }
.row-resize      { cursor: row-resize; }
.n-resize        { cursor: n-resize; }
.e-resize        { cursor: e-resize; }
.s-resize        { cursor: s-resize; }
.w-resize        { cursor: w-resize; }
.ns-resize       { cursor: ns-resize; }
.ew-resize       { cursor: ew-resize; }
.ne-resize       { cursor: ne-resize; }
.nw-resize       { cursor: nw-resize; }
.se-resize       { cursor: se-resize; }
.sw-resize       { cursor: sw-resize; }
.nesw-resize     { cursor: nesw-resize; }
.nwse-resize     { cursor: nwse-resize; }



.cursors > div {
   float: left;
   box-sizing: border-box;
   width: 20%;
   padding: 10px 2px;
   text-align: center;  
   white-space: nowrap;
   &:nth-child(even) {
      background: #eee;     
   }
   &:hover {
      opacity: 0.25
   }
}

You can also have the cursor be an image:

.custom {
   cursor: url(images/my-cursor.png), auto;
}

Some WebKit only cursors:

-webkit-zoom-in
-webkit-zoom-out
-webkit-zoom-grab
-webkit-zoom-grabbing

source: css tricks

Answer 3

You could create an image and use it to set the cursor this way.

html, body {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  cursor: url(http://s25.postimg.org/ovu4yw7ez/image.png), auto;
  margin: 0 auto;
}