Topic awaiting preservation: Sloppy Focus in WinXP?

Well, I finally got myself adjusted to using sloppy focus in Linux, and it's made me quite a good deal more productive. Now that I have to go back to using Windows, I keep typing things in the wrong windows since I am quite used to using sloppy focus now.

Are there any tools for Windows XP that provide sloppy focus instead of click-to-focus?

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling

Aha, nevermind.

I downloaded TweakUI, and it has just the setting I wanted (X-Mouse). Sorry for cluttering things up, but maybe other Linux users forced to use Windows can benefeit from what I found.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling

What the hell are you rambling about ??

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Support Justice for Pat Richard

I have a wiggly thing sticking out of my head

:::tao::: ::cell::
[ed] spellingg[/ed]

(Edited by Tao on 07-13-2004 00:41)

quote:

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Sloppy focus
With this focus model, moving the mouse cursor over a window gives the window the input focus. Moving the mouse cursor from a window into the root window does not change the input focus. The input focus may be changed in other ways as well (such as alt-tab), so it is not always true that the input focus is the window under the mouse cursor. Moving the mouse cursor on top of a window does not necessarily raise the window.

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Source: http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~ahiorean/ahwm/sloppy-focus.html

"Nothin' like a pro-stabbin' from a pro." -Weadah

(Edited by synax on 07-13-2004 02:21)

Normally, on MacOS and Windows, to give focus to a window, you have to click on it. When you click on a window, it is raised to the front and you can type in it or whatever.

In Linux/Unix/BSD, things are far more customizable, and one of the more popular options is "sloppy focus". Instead of clicking on the window you want, you just move your mouse over it. For some styles, it's much faster (especially if you maximize your screen real-estate). If you like to maximize the current window all the time, the style really doesn't work.

I find that for things that involve typing, which is most of what I do when I'm on a computer (coding, chatting, toying, writing) I find it is much more efficient for doing things simulataneously. You can even type on background windows. It's just great!

And when you get used to it, you'll wonder what the heck you were thinking with click-to-focus.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling

Thanks Iron Wallaby I have not heard of that before, I don't think I'll ever use it but it is interesting all the same.

:::tao::: ::cell::

Iron Wallapby, I think you might find that TXMouse hass a more complete feature list compared to the x-mouse version from Tweak XP.

I've not used it's functionality much before but it's pretty niffty stuff, tell us what you think if you give it a try.

Tried it, and I am impressed. It works far better than TweakUI's X-Mouse.

If there are any proponents of Sloppy Focus, I suggest that you check it out, it mimics the functionality excellently.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling

AVG Resident Shield reported:

quote:

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Warning: Hidden extension.exe

is found in file
F:\TXMouse.zip.exe

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I'm not certain what that actually means. EDIT: Actually, it just means... "WARNING! That file has two extensions! Be careful!"

(Edited by metahuman on 07-14-2004 15:06)

Sloppy focus with TXMouse doesn't seem to work with mIRC.

Do you know of any utility that uses fluxbox's (alt/ctrl)+MouseRightClickDrag to move/resise windows?

quote:

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Tweaking the Tweaker

Some applications have certain semantics for click-and-drag events and interfering with them the way TXMouse does might have undesirable effects, graphic editors being obvious notable example.

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Just below ^ are the registry tweaks. For me this means quite a few graphx programs. If anyone tries this let me know please. Also I couldn't see a work around for a double click which I have assigned to the wheel button.

But as far as copying text between windows ...slick as hell.

quote:

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Blaise said:

Iron Wallapby, I think you might find that TXMouse hass a more complete feature list compared to the x-mouse version from Tweak XP.

I've not used it's functionality much before but it's pretty niffty stuff, tell us what you think if you give it a try.

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well, i tried it. AVG said there was a virus in the file but fixed it. deleted it...and still the sloppy focus persists.
i don't think i liked that program

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

Just rename it to file.exe and then scan it. It comes up clean.

I think its so if people have extensions hidden, a virus could be virus.zip.exe, and they go "oh its a zip, I'll open it", and then they get a virus.

I tried to edit my post, but, it said it was too old. I think using my time zone, it hasn't been 24 hours since I posted...

I think the only way to turn it off for at least XP is to reboot. The process is not running but the sloppy focus is there for me too.

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

MacOS has always been my favorite operating system.

Too bad it doesn't run on my computer. Linux is the next best thing.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling