What are the type of mouse pad

A mousepad  is a surface for placing and moving a computer. A mousepad enhances the usability of the mouse compared to using a mouse directly on a table by providing a surface to allow the tracking LED or ball (in former models) to measure movement accurately and without jitter. Some mousepads increase ergonomics by providing a padded wrist rest.

A variety of mousepads exist with many different textured surfaces to fit various types of mouse technologies. Vinyl board cover, because of its natural adhesive properties, was a popular mousepad surface around 1980.

After the steel mouse ball was given a silicone rubber surface, the popular fabric-surface mousepad was found to be the most appropriate. It helped keep the rubberized roller-ball surface cleaner and gave better tracking, speed and accuracy than just a desk surface. Such surfaces collected dirt which was then deposited onto the internal rollers that picked off ball movement. Dirty rollers caused erratic pointer movement on the screen.

Early types of optical mice have the problem of not working well on transparent or reflective surfaces such as glass or highly polished wood. These surfaces, which often include desk and table surfaces, cause jitter and loss of tracking on the display pointer as the mouse moves over these reflective spots. The use of mousepads with precision surfaces eliminates spot jitter effects of older and/or low-quality optical mice.