The UI works quite well with a focus-follows-mouse policy - as it has been standard in Unix for decades. With today's click-to-focus window managers the UI is just horrible (but that's not Gimp's fault).
To an extent it is Gimp's fault, though. It's not as though click-to-focus is a new fad that's sprung up and surprised everyone -- it's been the default way focus has worked in GNOME and KDE for as long as I can remember, and I've been using it for the best part of fifteen years on Linux.
The fact that such a common use case (almost certainly the most common use case, not to mention Gimp-related irritation, for at least the past decade) has been ignored for so long is disappointing.
The most common use case... except among the kind of people whose idea of a fun evening is developing a Free image editor on a Free operating system.
I'm not one of those people, but I have a similar background, and GIMP has suited me pretty well for the photo-retouching and website-graphics work I've done.
> almost certainly the most common use case [click-to-focus]
Most common only if you are coming from a ms-windows background. Click-to-focus is only a relatively recent newcomer to the Unix/X-Windows system in the scheme of how long X-Windows has existed.
And if you ever break out of your ms-windows mindset and actually give focus follows mouse a try, focus follows mouse is actually the more powerful method.
And if you ever break out of your ms-windows mindset and actually give focus follows mouse a try, focus follows mouse is actually the more powerful method.
Not this again. Focus-follows-mouse is different, not more powerful. It provides a different way of working that not everyone agrees with and not everyone wants to use.
All the power in the world doesn't matter if it's not what the user wants or expects.
Which gets right to the core of GIMP's marketing problems. For years, users wanted a cheap Photoshop clone ... they got GIMP. Because it's not a near-clone of PS, it hasn't caught on as well outside a small group.
Just as an FYI, Windows actually supports focus follows mouse with a registry hack [0]. There are a couple of quirks mostly to do with things like tooltips, but I've found it usable.
The new window managers are a hybrid. Mouse events are focus follows mouse, while keyboard events are focus follows click. This allows you to highlight a bit of text and middle click on another window to paste, but leave the focus on the first window and continue typing, for instance. It also allows you to code in an editor while scrolling a documentation window.
Citation please. I love focus-follows-mouse but this sounds downright confusing. Do windows have different highlights to show where mouse and keyboard events will go?
Citation? Sorry, but it's been in Ubuntu for ages, and that's what I use.
As for the visual cues, it looks a lot like OS X. Currently focused windows has a highlighted top bar and pronounced shadows and is in front of other windows. As for where the keyboard and mouse events... keyboarrd goes to focused window, mouse goes to where you click. It makes sense.
I'm using FFM in Ubuntu classic (non-Unity) right now. Mouse and keyboard events go to the highlighted window and the highlight follows the mouse (with a few minor exceptions which is why some people call it sloppy focus). Clicking doesn't affect where the events go.
Not sure what you're talking about...? Maybe plain old click-to-raise like Mac and Windows?
I'm using default Ubuntu classic behaviour currently, and I almost agree with windsurfer's description. (I'm currently using 11.04, dist-upgraded from a 10.10 clean install, but it's been this way in every Ubuntu I've used over the past four years.)
If I mouse to a different window, focus does not follow (like MS). However... if I use the mousewheel, it applies to whatever window is under the mouse. As windsurfer says, this is cool because I can navigate around in one window while keeping my editor typing in another.
However, in disagreement with windsurfer's claim, my middle-click DOES change focus, as with my left- or right-click.
Anyway, I hate full-on sloppy focus, but I sure love this sloppy-mousewheel-focus.
So that's the justification? That the GIMP expects WM settings that were only the default on TWM and the like over 15 years ago?
Well, I must say that I haven't seen any other application of its size take the "NO WARRANTY" shouting of the GPL so seriously.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
But the program did start as a showcase for some graphics manipulation algorithms that the authors made. Maybe the fault is with the people with the high hopes that it was actually meant for them to use and edit their photos.
It seems rather inaccurate to claim that focus-follows-mouse is "standard in Unix".
Correct me if I'm wrong, but focus-follows-mouse hasn't been the standard in Unix for quite some time. I don't think it's ever been the default in Gnome or KDE. Is it the default on anything that isn't antiquated and/or super-niche (like FVWM or TWM, etc.)?
Haven't seen a default configuration of focus-follows-mouse for quite a while on any "big" Linux desktops. I always turn it on manually the first thing I touch a new system so it's not a big problem. However, a bigger problem is that finding a strict focus-follows-mouse is getting more difficult: for example Metacity can't do it, only sloppy focus-follows-mouse.
But the strict one would be the real focus-follows-mouse: with that you never lose the focus unintentionally since the focus is always under the mouse cursor. With sloppy focus, a newly opened window might of might not steal the focus regardless of the mouse position, and I quite often find myself typing into the wrong window after that.
