diff --git a/ui/index.html b/ui/index.html
index e5d8b1f2..0d4a9530 100755
--- a/ui/index.html
+++ b/ui/index.html
@@ -33,10 +33,6 @@
 
 //DEBUG = true
 
-var CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD = 10
-var CURSOR_HIDE_TIMEOUT = 2000
-
-
 // setup...
 $(function(){
 
@@ -49,30 +45,9 @@ $(function(){
 		// XXX for some reason this messes up alignment on initial view...
 		//.dblclick(dblClickHandler)
 
-		// hide cursor...
-		.on('mousemove', function(evt){
-			_cursor_pos = window._cursor_pos == null || $('.viewer').css('cursor') == 'auto' ?
-						[evt.clientX, evt.clientY] 
-					: _cursor_pos
 
-			if(Math.abs(evt.clientX - _cursor_pos[0]) > CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD 
-					|| Math.abs(evt.clientY - _cursor_pos[1]) > CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD){
+	autoHideCursor($('.viewer'))
 
-				if(window._cursor_timeout != null){
-					clearTimeout(_cursor_timeout)
-				}
-
-				$('.viewer').css('cursor', '')
-
-			} else {
-				_cursor_timeout = setTimeout(function(){
-					if(Math.abs(evt.clientX - _cursor_pos[0]) < CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD 
-							|| Math.abs(evt.clientY - _cursor_pos[1]) < CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD){
-						$('.viewer').css('cursor', 'none')
-					}
-				}, CURSOR_HIDE_TIMEOUT)
-			}
-		})
 
 	$(window)
 		.resize(function() {
diff --git a/ui/ui.js b/ui/ui.js
index 9b9d7817..062251a3 100755
--- a/ui/ui.js
+++ b/ui/ui.js
@@ -6,7 +6,44 @@
 
 //var DEBUG = DEBUG != null ? DEBUG : true
 
+var CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD = 10
+var CURSOR_HIDE_TIMEOUT = 2000
+
+
+
 /*********************************************************************/
 
+// XXX revise...
+function autoHideCursor(elem){
+	elem = $(elem)
+	elem
+		.on('mousemove', function(evt){
+			_cursor_pos = window._cursor_pos == null || $('.viewer').css('cursor') == 'auto' ?
+						[evt.clientX, evt.clientY] 
+					: _cursor_pos
+
+			if(Math.abs(evt.clientX - _cursor_pos[0]) > CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD 
+					|| Math.abs(evt.clientY - _cursor_pos[1]) > CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD){
+
+				if(window._cursor_timeout != null){
+					clearTimeout(_cursor_timeout)
+				}
+
+				$('.viewer').css('cursor', '')
+
+			} else {
+				_cursor_timeout = setTimeout(function(){
+					if(Math.abs(evt.clientX - _cursor_pos[0]) < CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD 
+							|| Math.abs(evt.clientY - _cursor_pos[1]) < CURSOR_SHOW_THRESHOLD){
+						$('.viewer').css('cursor', 'none')
+					}
+				}, CURSOR_HIDE_TIMEOUT)
+			}
+		})
+	return elem
+}
+
+
+
 /*********************************************************************/
 // vim:set ts=4 sw=4 nowrap :