Re: _NET_WM_[GET_|TAKE_|REQUEST_]FOCUS & urgency

[Bill Haneman <Bill Haneman Sun COM>]

Havoc Pennington wrote:

> ...
>
> I think the taskbar flashing is better than raising an unfocused window
> that may then obscure the focus window and be confusing.
>  
The primary difference between the second behavior (raise new 
window/window seeking attention) and focussing such a window is that, 
while it may obscure the focus window, it doesn't steal keyboard focus; 
therefore it isn't likely that a user will accidentally send keystrokes 
to the wrong app.

As I see it, focus-stealing is the primary thing to avoid here.  Having 
a new window pop up in front of what I'm doing is an annoyance, but then 
again all interruptions are annoyances, even when they are 
useful/informative.[1]    I might not notice a taskbar flash (might be 
looking away at the time), but I will certainly notice if an unfocussed 
window is raised to the top.

So personally I think raise-new/raise-on-urgency-hint are sensible 
behaviors, and are a reasonable policy choice to offer the user. [2]

Bill

[1] - I don't take the phone off the hook when I am working, but it does 
interrupt me when it rings...
[2] - the fact that the WM hints (URGENT/ATTENTION) give semantic info 
mostly solve the accessibility implications.  Focus-stealing is bad for 
accessibility, but on the other hand a blind user (or low-vision user 
looking at a magnified sub-section of the screen) needs to be informed 
that a new app has been raised.