Article View: comp.windows.misc
Article #949Chaning input focus (Re: Automatic mouse cursor movement)
From: Ralph Hyre
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1988 14:28
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1988 14:28
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2531 bytes
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}
Amateur Packet Radio: N3FGW@W2XO, or c/o W3VC, CMU Radio Club, Pittsburgh, PA
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!uwvax!vanvleck!uwmcsd1!bbn!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu!ralphw 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 References: <10799@apple.Apple.Com> <10700006@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM> <5034@june.cs.washington.edu> <11088@steinmetz.ge.com> <4964@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> <2158@uoregon.uoregon.edu> <5663@venera.isi.edu> Sender: netnews@pt.cs.cmu.edu Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 36