Sloppy Cursor Focus

[Cadre]

Please! For the love of Clarus! Give us the option to use sloppy cursor focus! This crap normal focus control is driving me insane! If you've ever used sloppy cursor focusing, please speak up! Be heard! Tell Apple you want to break free from the bonds of normal cursor focusing! Tell them you want to free your mind! You want to return the productivity that true hardcore X afficionados have enjoyed for years! The windowing system works for you! It is NOT the other way around. You are the master of your own windowing system! You determine which windows are in front and which windows have focus even if they are different windows! There is but only one true focusing control and that is of the sloppy cursor! Stand up my comrades! Don't let the system dominate you!

The only true cursor focus is sloppy cursor focusing!

[Craig R. Arko]

Geez, can you shout a little louder? The windows have stopped shaking already. :)

[Maran]

I'm not generally a moron, but I have no idea what you mean by this rant. I'm very curious though. Do you mind explaining?

[Cadre]

It's pretty simple. The window the mouse is over is the one that has focus, even if it isn't the one in the foreground. You can then interact with that window. The way to bring the window into the foreground would be to click the title bar of the window or use a modifier key and click anywhere on the window. An added option that is also pretty useful is using that modifer key and clicking anywhere on a window grabs the window so you can move it around on the screen.

[durandal64]

That's one of the best features of X. I don't have to switch to an application to close a window in it. It's actually saved me lots of time. I say keep it.

[Maran]

Ah - yes, I know what you are talking about, and I can do all that on OS X now, right? So, what is it you are wishing for?

[mervTormel]

i loathe sloppy cursor focus

i will dedicate my life to see that it isn't even an option.

--
Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering sloppy cursor; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.

:D

[Cadre]

That's one of the best features of X. I don't have to switch to an application to close a window in it. It's actually saved me lots of time. I say keep it.
It's not a feature of X-Windows, it's a feature of whatever window manager you are using. This feature is not currently available in Mac OS X (well, if you are using rootless X in Mac OS X then your X windows can have this ability, but it, of course, doesn't carry over to the Aqua side).

Am I crazy? I thought I had made it pretty clear in my first post that I was a proponent for this focusing option in Mac OS X. :-)

Ah - yes, I know what you are talking about, and I can do all that on OS X now, right? So, what is it you are wishing for?
It isn't an option for Aqua. Again, if you are running X-Windows alongside of Aqua your X windows can have use this focus method if the window manager you installed uses it, but, again, that won't affect how the cursor location affects the focus of normal Aqua windows.

i will dedicate my life to see that it isn't even an option.
Bah, it's just an option. It's just like the swap left control and caps-lock, it's not for everybody (heck, most people don't even know that option exists for USB keyboard users in Mac OS X), but by making it an option available to those who want it, they've made everybody happy.

I fart in your general direction. :D

[mervTormel]

jihad!

actually, i don't have any problem with the option, as long as i can turn it off easily.

what i'd really like to see is more keyboard control a la windoze. i begin to loathe mouse-ing.

--
i went to the original DECwindows programming seminar back in 1983. the mouse had wheels, a steering device, stickshift, a seat, and a caddy for your drink.

[Cadre]

actually, i don't have any problem with the option, as long as i can turn it off easily.
Actually, I wouldn't even want it turned on as default (though, in retrospect, I think I made that less than clear in my original rant...). I'm a realist, I know that 99% of all Mac OS X users would never want Sloppy Cursor Focus. It's just a feature that I think would be nice that really shouldn't be too hard to implement and add. It'd also give those hardcore Linux people one less thing to whine about why they will never use Mac OS X... but I digress.

what i'd really like to see is more keyboard control a la windoze. i begin to loathe mouse-ing.
The full keyboard access is better than in previous versions of the Mac OS, alas I agree, there definately is room for more improvement in this area. I, personally, would like to see more dialogs that support "cmd + first letter of button" to activate that button (BBEdit does this well).