Mac OS X, Focus Follows Mouse Interface Debate
A technical discussion explores the "focus follows mouse" feature common in Unix X11 systems and its absence in Mac OS X. While Apple allows scrolling in background windows via the mouse wheel, it does not support keyboard input focus without clicking to bring the window forward. This design choice is attributed to Apple's specific user interface philosophy.
mac os x· unix· x11· gui· focus follows mouse· apple
00:03 Adam Curry, John C. Dvorak. Keeping citizens informed and aware across the entire Gitmo Nation, this is no agenda for March 1st, 2009. This is no agenda. Coming to you from the Crackpot Command Center in Southwest London, Gitmo Nation East, I'm Adam Curry. And I'm John C. Dvorak here at Buzzkill Bastion, Silicon Valley North, Gitmo Nation The. A new montage. Yes, you didn't pot it up fast enough. No, I sucked. I'm sorry. There's a lot going on here, you know? A lot of mouse work.
00:43 I actually looked into, because there's so much is firing from the computer screen, so it's actually quite inconvenient to do stuff with a mouse in that regard when you're doing radio stuff. I looked into what turns out to be like a holy war type situation. I looked into implementing mouse, was it focus follows mouse on the Mac. What is that? Well, it's a very old Unix X11 type thing. In fact, it still works that way and it's a source of huge debate. On many Unix GUI systems, if you mouse over another window of a different application, even though you're not bringing it to the forefront, the focus of wherever the mouse is means that your keyboard will interact with that window in that application.
01:36 Without having to click without having to click of course when you click then it obscures other windows, and it's so it's the the Mac OS X does have a version of It scrolling works on on focus so if you have an application in the foreground And you want to scroll your browser window that's in the back that works if you do it through like a mouse mouse scroll wheel and But you can't do key input commands. I was reading an article on it today, it's fascinating why that's not implemented or if it ever can be. A lot of it is basically Apple saying this is good for everybody, now live with it. But it would be nice if I could do it. Yeah, it would have been in that last, in that intro there where you were dead in the water after I said hello. Don't make me do it again, man. Hey John, how are you? Okay.
