>
> >Perhaps it was a bit strong, but we've been pointing out the inherent
> >and insurmountable problems of using pointer focus with real GUI
> >applications (as opposed to xterms) for years now,
>
> And there are problems with click-to-focus, too. I personally find
> explicit focus annoying. A "real" gui application should be able to
> handle both focus paradigms because not all users like the explicit
> paradigm. If your application doesn't work very well with pointer focus,
> maybe you should rethink its design.
Perhaps you missed my original post. It detailed why certain GUI
techniques are *impossible* to use efficiently with pointer focus.
And you're not going to get very far with an argument that the vast
majority of users (who use explict focus) should be forced to use a
lower-functionality application because more using advanced GUI
techniques don't work well with the non-standard setup some users
find works better in their xterm-based world.
> >It's also confusing because pointer focus really only has advantages
> >when you're dealing primarily with xterm-type windows (as I invariably
> >discover is the standard tool of pointer focus afficianados). When
> >When your rarely or never use them, pointer focus is just a pain in the ass
> >because you're constantly having to move the mouse before you can type
> >in dialogs and such.
>
> I'm missing something. Please explain the situation where explicit focus
> helps you travel around an application's windows better than
> pointer-focus. Focus is on a per-window basis, not a per-application
> basis, right?
Well, in *true* pointer focus there is no keyboard traversal at all,
you have to move the mouse into each field in turn to fill out a form.
I don't see too many people advocating we go back to *that*. Its
about time we take the next step, or at least reduce the incidence of
corruption of new users by making the default explicit focus.
> So with explicit focus, you _always_ have to move the
> pointer and click it on another window of the application, right?
No, you click on a button (or choose from a menu, or activate a menu
item with a mnemonic or accelerator) and it opens a dialog that gets
the focus. You then type whatever you want and then close it by
pressing return, upon which the dialog closes and focus returns to the
application window that had it before. This is the most standard
operating method of modern GUI applications, and it just doesn't work
very well with pointer focus.
Scott
> Jeff
> --
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--
***************************************************************
Scott Raney raney_at_metacard.com http://www.metacard.com
Tcl and ksh: syntactic gymnastics
MetaCard: it does what you think
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Received on Wed Oct 23 1996 - 15:55:19 BST