[Bug 54741] Re: New windows stealing focus -- and passwords?

[Koresko]

Personally, I'm less concerned about the potential security issue than
with the general user-interface problems the lack of strict mouse-focus
produces.  Examples I've experienced:

* I have a data analysis package that creates about a dozen windows, at
a rate of around one every 2 seconds.  The focus-stealing by these
output windows (which display plots of data) means that the input is
effectively disabled (e.g., I can't be typing in a terminal) for an
extended period of time while this happens.  Ugh.

* If I'm typing in some app, e.g., a text editor, and a dialog box
(e.g,. a mail notification, battery status, calendar event, etc.,) pops
up and gets focus, there is a strong chance that the dialog will be
dismissed before I even realize it was there, let alone decide what the
appropriate choice is.  Oops!  This is especially true since most
dialogs have a default choice which is activated when the spacebar is
pressed.  In typical typing, every ~6th character is a spacebar.

* Sometimes I want to close a bunch of windows by pointing the mouse at
them and hitting Alt-F4.  I've more or less given up on doing this,
though, because sometimes when one window is closed, the focus switches
to some window other than the one under the mouse, and if I don't notice
immediately I close that window instead of the one I wanted to.  Oops!

* Sometimes I'm running a commandline app that generates output windows.
Typically these output windows do not process keystrokes or mouse
events.  However, the do get the focus when they are created, so every
time I create one from the terminal, I need to wave the mouse off the
terminal and back onto it before I can continue working.  Yuck.

Generally, it's simpler and more intuitive to tell a new user, "point
the mouse at a window and type into it" than "point the mouse at a
window and type into it, unless a new window has been created, in which
case your typing will go to that one, unless the window manager has
decided not to move the focus for some reason, so really you need to
wave the mouse around and then point it into the window you want to be
typing into every time the window manager does something".  Yes, it's
sometimes convenient to have the focus go to a newly-created dialog
***which is a child of the app that currently has focus*** , but the
cost of that minor convenience seems excessive if it means the focus
will go to (almost) every newly-created window.

Many of the Metacity themes use only subtle visual indicators of window
focus, e.g., the colors of the titlebar buttons or text.  This makes it
especially important not to surprise the user by changing the focus
without being explicitly requested to.  (As it stands, I always pick
window frame themes that make large, obvious changes to the titlebar and
border colors to partly work around the Metacity behavior).

-- 
New windows stealing focus -- and passwords?
https://launchpad.net/bugs/54741