Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!grahamt
From: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Automatic window activation - pros & cons?
Message-ID: <1919@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
Date: 18 Dec 89 12:47:53 GMT
Reply-To: grahamt@syma.UUCP (Graham Thomas)
Organization: SPRU, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Lines: 27


The disk cataloguing program STDCAT has a feature which I quite like -
I wonder if it's worth implementing more generally.  It's called 'auto
newtop' in the menu bar, and when it's activated the window under the
mouse pointer automatically becomes the 'active' window.

What do you think?  Would this be a desirable feature to have in the
desktop (or in an alternative like NeoDesk)?  Clearly there would be
some overhead in display update time, and there may be problems with
overlapping windows if your mouse pointer strayed into an unwanted
overlapping window on the way to the one you want.  But would it be
worthwhile to implement (as a user-selectable option, of course)? 
Would any existing programs break if 'auto newtop' were installed on
the desktop?  Would it be a nightmare to write in a way that would
cope with every contingency (unlike in STDCAT, where it's in a single
program environment)?

Sorry - I'm not volunteering to try to write this.  I'm just
interested to see if anyone else thinks it would be worth doing.

Graham

-- 
Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK
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