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From: ralphw@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc
Subject: Chaning input focus (Re: Automatic mouse cursor movement)
Message-ID: <1920@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 13 Jun 88 14:28:43 GMT
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In article <1596@iscuva.ISCS.COM>, jimc@iscuva.ISCS.COM (Jim Cathey) writes:
...
>In article <735@titan.SW.MCC.COM> janssen@titan (Bill Janssen) writes:
>>...time we didn't warp the mouse; the user had to type ^X^F, then move the
>>mouse to the minibuffer, then type in the file name, then move the mouse
>>back.  Truly a pain.  Warping the mouse turned out to be a simple and
>This is where having the input focus separate from where the mouse
>pointer resides comes in handy.  The Mac works this way -- you need to do
>more than just move the mouse to change input focus (clicking is the
>'blessed' way).

I now try to avoid Macs for this reason.  Anyone got a patch for this
behavior?

Clicking to change input focus is distinctly 'unhandy' for me.
The guts of a 'window system' should only provide mechanism; policy is the
scope of window managers, user interface designers writers, applications, 
and most importanly, the user!  X11's configurable window manager are a big
win in this regard.

The emacs in question would probably get along best by a moving the cursor
itself to the minibuffer input area, then moving it back after it's done.
Sort of like a Mac dialog box.

My main usage of the mouse is for picking things I'm interested in.  I think
that even if I used graphic editors and such I still might prefer to press
a mouse button to move the application pointer (either spring-loaded or
a toggle which would deactivate when I left the window for a bit), and just
a regular movement of the mouse to change the input focus.  Of course, this 
is all highly application dependent, mainly a function of how cluttered your 
desktop is and whether you're mostly manipulating or browsing.
-- 
					- Ralph W. Hyre, Jr.

Internet: ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu    Phone:(412)268-{2847,3275} CMU-{BUGS,DARK}
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