Comments by Byron Case (Top 1 by date)

I finally devised a couple of ugly, inelegant solutions to these issues.

Firstly, the exit-fullscreen "X" button that drops from the topmost part of the screen in Chromium only appears once per browser session if you're using a dual-screen setup. I started the Raspberry Pi viewing station hooked up to a second monitor, positioned HDMI-1 on top, HDMI-2 on bottom. Next I shrank my taskbar to a width of 2 pixels, to keep users from monkeying around with anything they shouldn't. I opened my HTML page in the browser, hit F11 for fullscreen, moved my cursor around the top of the screen to summon the "X" button, then let it retract... never to return.

Unhooking the second display does let users lose their cursors beyond the top of the screen for a moment now and again, but they report being generally happy with the setup. Then only problem is the minor inconvenience of hooking up another monitor whenever the Pi reboots. We leave it on for a week or more at a stretch in the educational-resources area of the prison's recreation building. As for the issue of VLC's right-click menu, a little mouse surgery with a screwdriver and pliers neutered right-button functionality altogether.

I've heard a little about Pointer Lock API, which allows one to confine the cursor to a given window or onscreen area, but I haven't really done my homework on it. This might be the solution for future refinements. Of course, if anyone has potentially better solutions than the ones mentioned in this update, I always welcome suggestions.