Re: put input focus on active minibuffer

[Yuri Khan <yuri.v.khan@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 10:54 PM, Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> wrote:

> A user needs to be able to interact with other windows directly,
> whatever frame they are in.  This interaction needs to be able
> to include inserting text etc. - actions that require that
> window to have the focus.
>
> Users need to be able to change the focus to anywhere they
> like when the minibuffer is active.  Just because it is active
> and the user will want to interact with it, does not mean that
> the user should not be able to interact with other window as
> well.

I think there could be a useful middle ground, which is probably what
Katsumi meant.

A user clicks on an inactive frame which has an active minibuffer.
That frame is activated and the minibuffer focused. The idea is that
the user’s mental model for an inactive frame is that of an opaque
box.

A user clicks in an inactive window in the active frame which has an
active minibuffer. Now the window which was clicked is activated.

This way, to activate a window other than the minibuffer in an
inactive frame which has an active minibuffer, the user has to click
twice.

In my practice, this case is sufficiently rare that the utility of
Fitts’ law outweighs the cost of this additional click. Especially in
an overlapping windowing system where the minibuffer of an inactive
frame might not even be exposed, and therefore not directly clickable.