[opensuse] Prevent applications from stealing focus in Gnome
The more I work with Gnome, the more annoyed with it I become. In KDE, there is a config setting where you can tell it to prevent applications from stealing focus. Is there anything at all in Gnome that is similar? I start up applications in Gnome, and continue working on/in another application (eg a document or an email)... when the app I started finally surfaces, it steals the focus and I end up typing a whack of stuff into the new application. I guess I am too impatient. In KDE I can set it to start apps in the background and it works perfectly. I have yet to find such a setting in this Gnome thing. Any suggestions? Or this yet another feature that was removed from Gnome? C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2007-08-21 at 13:35 +0200, Clayton wrote:
The more I work with Gnome, the more annoyed with it I become.
In KDE, there is a config setting where you can tell it to prevent applications from stealing focus. Is there anything at all in Gnome that is similar?
I start up applications in Gnome, and continue working on/in another application (eg a document or an email)... when the app I started finally surfaces, it steals the focus and I end up typing a whack of stuff into the new application. I guess I am too impatient. In KDE I can set it to start apps in the background and it works perfectly. I have yet to find such a setting in this Gnome thing.
Any suggestions? Or this yet another feature that was removed from Gnome?
C.
Wouldn't that be a bug? I can't imagine why they would remove 'features'. Ken -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
The more I work with Gnome, the more annoyed with it I become.
It's designed that way.
Sigh... tell me about it. :-( I use KDE at home, and know it well.. used it for years. I keep trying to use Gnome.. thinking there _has_ to be something to it that draws people to it. I have yet to find it. I hear "visual..." some say it's "cleaner" and easier to look at than some of the other WM choices. That comes down to personal preferences, and I don't care so much what it looks like, as long as it works.... and Gnome certainly (for me anyway) does not come anywhere near that criteria. My employer chose to go with Gnome... that's ok with me... if I can get the silly WM to act properly. I've found workarounds for many of the more annoying features... or complete and utter lack of features in some instances... or even better a completely inconsistent implementation of middle-click paste functionality. I have yet to find an acceptable solution for preventing applications from stealing focus though. I've trawled through the options (what few there are), and cannot find anything at all. I was referred to gconftool-2 as the "easy" way to get in there and tinker... who is the insane masochist that thinks that is a good tool? It's a text interface nightmare for the uninitiated. I didn't have a goat to sacrifice... so i gave up on gconftool-2 as a bad idea.. and I'm still stuck with applications stealing focus. So... still open to suggestions... no I cannot use another WM.. Gnome is what I have on the work computer. C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Randall R Schulz wrote:
On Tuesday 21 August 2007 04:35, Clayton wrote:
The more I work with Gnome, the more annoyed with it I become.
It's designed that way.
So I noticed. I get annoyed using it too. ;-) -- Use OpenOffice.org http://www.openoffice.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Tuesday 21 August 2007 13:06, James Knott wrote:
Randall R Schulz wrote:
On Tuesday 21 August 2007 04:35, Clayton wrote:
The more I work with Gnome, the more annoyed with it I become.
It's designed that way.
So I noticed. I get annoyed using it too. ;-)
Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this!" Doctor: "Don't move your arm like that." RRS -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2007-08-21 at 13:35 +0200, Clayton wrote:
I start up applications in Gnome, and continue working on/in another application (eg a document or an email)... when the app I started finally surfaces, it steals the focus and I end up typing a whack of stuff into the new application. I guess I am too impatient. In KDE I can set it to start apps in the background and it works perfectly. I have yet to find such a setting in this Gnome thing.
Which applications in particular are stealing focus? Which window manager are you using (Metacity or Compiz)? Metacity prevents focus stealing by default, but it depends on applications following certain conventions (otherwise it's not possible to reliably prevent focus stealing). Technical details: 1. You start an application. 2. If you don't do anything with the existing windows, the new app's window will appear on top and get the focus. I.e. if you just wait for the app to start, it will appear on top as expected. 3. If you did anything with the existing windows (click on them, type on them, etc.) the new app will appear in the background and it will not get the focus. I.e. if you are busy while the app starts, it will not interrupt you when its window appears. Federico -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Which applications in particular are stealing focus?
All of them :-( Daily I use Firefox (latest), Thunderbird (latest), StarOffice, The Gimp etc etc.
Which window manager are you using (Metacity or Compiz)?
Metacity I assume... definitely not Compiz.
2. If you don't do anything with the existing windows, the new app's window will appear on top and get the focus. I.e. if you just wait for the app to start, it will appear on top as expected.
Ok, that I understand and expect.
3. If you did anything with the existing windows (click on them, type on them, etc.) the new app will appear in the background and it will not get the focus. I.e. if you are busy while the app starts, it will not interrupt you when its window appears.
This is definitely not happening. It's not the fastest computer in the world so app launch takes a couple seconds. Typical scenario... I'm writing an email and decide to start a Firefox browser or launch StarOffice. I click the icon to launch and go back to my email.. typing away (I type relatively quickly) and the application pops up on top of my email message and the last few words I've typed appear in the document or in the location bar. This happens all the time.. thus my frustration levels :-) If I work from home, I work in KDE... same tasks, same applications... no applications stealing focus... it's the default setting in KDE Settings > Desktop > Window Specific Settings as of KDE 3.5.2... specifically for Mozilla based applications, and OpenOffice.org. I just come to expect a certain level of performance from my Window manager and I never seem to get it with Gnome.. maybe because I'm a tinkerer and Gnome is anti-tinkerer in a big way. C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Tuesday 2007-08-21 at 11:15 -0500, Federico Mena Quintero wrote:
On Tue, 2007-08-21 at 13:35 +0200, Clayton wrote:
I start up applications in Gnome, and continue working on/in another application (eg a document or an email)... when the app I started finally surfaces, it steals the focus and I end up typing a whack of stuff into the new application. I guess I am too impatient. In KDE I can set it to start apps in the background and it works perfectly. I have yet to find such a setting in this Gnome thing.
I also have that problem.
Which applications in particular are stealing focus?
Openoffice is a typical one, because it can take a minute to start. But it happens with all of them.
Which window manager are you using (Metacity or Compiz)?
cer@nimrodel:~> ps afx | grep "metacit" 5592 ? Ss 4:44 metacity --sm-save-file 1177092186-32076-3020439348.ms
Metacity prevents focus stealing by default, but it depends on applications following certain conventions (otherwise it's not possible to reliably prevent focus stealing).
Technical details:
1. You start an application.
2. If you don't do anything with the existing windows, the new app's window will appear on top and get the focus. I.e. if you just wait for the app to start, it will appear on top as expected.
3. If you did anything with the existing windows (click on them, type on them, etc.) the new app will appear in the background and it will not get the focus. I.e. if you are busy while the app starts, it will not interrupt you when its window appears.
Nope. Not true. I go to the workspace number 5, and start up Openoffice with a big file. As soon as I see the first welcome screen, a switch to workspace #1, and continue working there. Suddenly, OOo grabs the focus back to WS#5. I go back to #1, and I'm pulled back to #5, several times during the loading process. This has been reported months or years ago here, it is a known behavior. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFGy4BHtTMYHG2NR9URAqL0AJ9kgfqMy16nic4dwxcWmym3y1DItgCeLHCn sYLHc5RGo/s68KVKegBCFOU= =qbEw -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (6)
-
Carlos E. R. -
Clayton -
Federico Mena Quintero -
James Knott -
Ken Schneider -
Randall R Schulz