I don't know about you, but I don't move my mouse pointer along the title as I read it.

It may just be that I'm old and clumsy, but I would find it very difficult to point to the end of the title. Habit and alignment makes it reasonably possible for me to hit the right thing most of the time currently (I still accidentally hit the down when I meant the up, or vice versa, on occasion...which is very disappointing here, since the arrows then disappear and I can't fix it).

I'm very, very, very much opposed to randomly placed arrows, rather than aligned ones. I would find it deeply disorienting.

I don't usually have strong feelings about bike shed type questions...but on this count I am emphatic. In my estimation your idea is terrible. I can't think of a single benefit to having the arrow at the end of the title rather than the front.

I'm indifferent to it, and thought I'd probe your (and others') reasoning. My criterion is that it needs to be close to the title - visual clustering if you will.

But without a proper test, I don't think you or I will be able to judge which is "better".

I've conducted tests on similar questions for my day job, and having the arrow consistently in a predictable position proved to be far superior.

Sorry, I can't provide hard data as it's company confidential, but consistency of position has become one of the main design driving forces, so clear was the evidence.

I would be interested in knowing why you claim to be indifferent to it. My tests showed people thought it didn't matter, but their actions were significantly more efficient. Some didn't believe the results, even when shown the measurements.

Why do you think you are indifferent?

Habitual movement is known to result in greater precision and speed. This has been shown over and over in studies of athletes, musicians, dancers, video game players, etc. The computer usability field has known about predictability and consistency of interface for years (think about "ok/cancel" for a moment, and what happens when apps change it up on you). I'm surprised anyone would think there would be a question about it.