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).
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.
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.
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.
[0] http://sinewalker.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/ms-windows-focus-...
MS Windows is only focus follows mouse.
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.
Not sure what you're talking about...? Maybe plain old click-to-raise like Mac and Windows?
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.
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.
Seriously, get over yourself.
But it is that very difference that makes it much more powerful of a UI convention.
If you had ever experienced it, you'd understand.
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.
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.
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.)?
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.