Never. Ever. Ever. Mmmkay?

OK, quick note to all developers who work with Web browsers (I’m looking at you, Firefox folks!) and window managers — The window I am typing in is the Window I want to see — nothing, absolutely NOTHING that happens in another window, tab, or program is important enough to steal window manager focus from the one I am currently typing in. It is absolutely wrong for a program to shove itself in front of another window or program to say “Hey, this event happened, pay attention to MEEEEE!” while I’m busy doing something else, not to mention the fact that it’s usually ineffective as all getout to take focus from the other window while I’m typing, because the odds are I’ll accidentally dismiss the warning/message/whatever without having the chance to read it…

About Joe Brockmeier

I'm a freelance writer, FOSS advocate, music lover, computer geek, avid reader, and politically progressive (read "Liberal with occasional Libertarian tendencies"). You can read more on my about page if you're not already bored.
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2 Responses to Never. Ever. Ever. Mmmkay?

  1. Ryan says:

    There’s some annoying Adobe software that does the same thing in the MS Windows world. I’ll probably never figure out what that dialog box was about, as it stole my keystrokes and quickly vanished, leaving only typos and confusion.

  2. Michael Wolf says:

    Amen.

    It’s also a security risk, because you could easily be typing a password when some other antisocial app tries to do its thing. I wonder if framing the discussion as such would get the problem fixed.

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