
Focus through transparent windows
Various KDE 1.-4. Improvements
Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): Add the source-code for this project on opencode.net
I've been using KDE's x composite manager, kompmgr, for a while now and it's just absolutely beatiful. Compared to xcompmgr and transset it's much more dynamic and having windows become transparent when they lose focus or when they are moved is great. However I've come up with an improvement that I'd really like to see implemented:
I have kompmgr set up so that unfocused windows become transparent and I've noticed that when several windows ontop of each other are transparent it's a bit hard to see which ones are above or below the others. The windowfocus behaviour I would like is that if I click the titlebar of a window (that is below other transparent windows) that window will gain focus no matter what Z-index it's at. If an active window is transparent though, that window should not surrender it's focus if the titlebar of an underlaying window is clicked, the behaviour I'm talking about should only happen in the case of several transparent, unfocused windows. Or preferably, be configurable... If my description is a bit confusing, look at the screenshot and it should all be clear...
I've been browsing around KDE's source at http://lxr.kde.org/ for the better part of my day without getting much wiser as to where to start... Is this controlled via the xserver rather than through KDE?
Anybody with more knowledge in the area than me who's got any tips on where to get started or is interested in this functionality?
Are other people even interested in this functionality? Maybe someone has an argument why this is a lousy idea so that I can stop wasting my time learning how KDE works? :)
/AlienNation
CooperHawks
14 years ago
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bratwiz
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
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ris
15 years ago
I think to make it clear what the window manager was going to do, when you mouseovered a window title bar in the background, it should become highlighted (or momentarily brought to the front) so that the behaviour isn't completely unexpected if you're not actually trying to do that.
It would be very annoying to be clicking in a window to bring it to the front, not realising that behind where you clicked there was a titlebar to another window that you didn't care about, and having the other window appear instead.
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AlienNation
15 years ago
Yeah highlighting on mouseover would be a good idea and the behaviour should not apply to active windows. Maybe even a Ctrl+Click or something like that would be good so that the user definately knows what he/she is doing.
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Seli
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
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zammi
15 years ago
http://liihs.irit.fr/dragice/foldndrop/
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AlienNation
15 years ago
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oisch
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
Felt hard enough trying to figure out the KDE sources, really not looking forward to start digging in the xorg code... :)
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thomas12777
15 years ago
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thomas12777
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
Hopefully I'll get some time to get the KDE SVN today and start poking around a little...
Great comment, thanks!
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thomas12777
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
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toonmuylkens
15 years ago
At first I dindn't really understand what you meant, but then I looked at the screenshot and it became all clear.
It would be an improvement in usability and user-friendlyness.
Also it would improve the speed of which you can chance from app to app.
However I have no idea how this could be acheaved... So I can't help you with that.
btw: composite isn't supported by the ati (closed source) drivers, and I have to use ATI at the moment. So I wont be able to test it anyway...
I hope your idea will be realised some day.
cheers
tuxer
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Nikoo
15 years ago
Just move your mouse in a corner to have a full view of all your windows in order to choose the one your are interested in, and in another corner to hide everything and have access to the desktop.
I think that transparency + well working Kompose would be the most efficient way to manage windows.
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AlienNation
15 years ago
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stormking
15 years ago
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Laerte
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
As you mentioned, this will not be a feature that would make the taskbar redundant in any way but that really wasn't the intention either.
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AlienNation
15 years ago
So yeah, when Kedit is activated one cannot focus the windows below it this way. If active windows are configured to be transparent as well, then this idea should apply. However it should be configurable since it might be weird if you click somewhere in the active window, like on a button, and the window below it is raised since its titlebar was directly below the button.
By the way, should I use the word "under" instead of "below" to speak correct English here...? =)
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AlienNation
15 years ago
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AlienNation
15 years ago
Thanks for the positive feedback though.
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