Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!gatech!mcnc!uvaarpa!murdoch!mendel.acc.Virginia.EDU!smb3u From: smb3u@mendel.acc.Virginia.EDU (Steven M. Boker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: NOT (click to type) in NeXTStep? Summary: There is a reason. Keywords: X attention vs. intention. Message-ID: <1990Nov5.144922.14733@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Date: 5 Nov 90 14:49:22 GMT References: <8516@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <25251@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Sender: Steven M. Boker Followup-To: datran2!smb@uunet.uu.net Organization: University of Virginia Lines: 20 Ireallyam: smb3u There is a method to all of this madness. First of all have you guys from X land ever moved your cursor across a crowded screen when your ram was all occupied with high priority tasks? Thats why I end up setting click to type even in X. In NeXTStep there are several "layers" of windows that can be put up on the screen. If you have IB up and running as well as 5 editor windows and a couple of Stuart shells as I commonly do, things can get crowded. One of the ways that NeXTStep reduces the complexity of the screen is by only showing the panel layer of the currently activated application. If the panel layers were constantly being activated as the cursor moved from one window to another, your screen would be a truly ugly and confusing sight. What I recommend is that you try to separate the concepts of attention and intention. When your focus of intention is on a window, fire that finger. Its already on the mouse, poised over the button. I think that once you get over this initial pavlovian exercize, you will find that there is a reward for your new behavior pattern. Steve.