The OSX Focus-Follows-Mouse Debate

When you keydown and your mouse isn't within the current window:

1. Store the z-positions of all windows (if you haven't already)

2. raise the window you're hovering over to the front and focus it

3. re-send the event

4. set a timer to reset the z-positions of all windows, refocusing the old window

5. if you happen to click anywhere, simply kill the timer and throw away the z-stack.

Hopefully, any animations associated with window refocusing could temporarily be turned off for both z-shuffling events, and in the interstice there could be some smooth "fade-decay" effect that shows that the window is indeed receiving input behind it, but only temporarily. Feels Apple-y already.

It's also a good example of why open source matters, even for low level stuff. To make his computer work like he wants, all he can do is ask Apple nicely and hope. Maybe he'll even get his wish because he's famous, but I'd much rather have the source code.

The nice part is that it works fine with xmonad, which is something I couldn't give up. I used to take great pride in perfectly arranging my windows. Complete waste of time, it's much nicer to have the computer do it for you.

But the big missing feature that doesn't contradict the UI at all is the ability to lower a window. It would solve his "I want to type 'make' over there but then end up with the terminal window on the bottom", too.

Could anyone who has access to both OS X and GNU/Linux post side-by-side screenshots to compare the two?

I use OS X, but I wish I could have the old sawfish behavior, where clicking on a window gave it focus but did not raise it, and clicking on a window's title-bar gave it focus and raised it.