[SOLVED] Recent convert from ubuntu needs sloppy focus

[kenwego]

Hello Linux Mint newbies and newbie helpers,

I'm getting a bit of a kick out of posting in the Newbie section of the forum, as I've been a linux user for over 11 years now, but I only recently decided to try out Linux Mint after getting discouraged by Ubuntu and Gnome's recent antics after Ubuntu version 10.10. So here I am, seeking help with getting Linux Mint 12 working the way I have grown accustomed over all these years. I have quite a few things I'm looking to tweak but I'm going to start with the most important one... the one that's got me considering abandoning Linux Mint 12 altogether... my need for what is apparently called "Sloppy Focus".

I didn't even know that what I wanted was referred to as "Sloppy Focus" until I got myself on Linux Mint. My preferred behavior is the traditional Unix "Focus follows mouse" behavior - for the keyboard focus to follow the mouse, leaving the window where it is in terms of foreground/background. In gnome 2.x that was referred to as "Select windows when the mouse moves over them". In Gnome 2.x there was also a "Raise selected windows after an interval" option, but I NEVER used it. It is the "Raise selected windows after an interval" option that I am trying to turn off in Linux Mint 12.

I have installed the Advanced Settings (gnome-tweak-tool) configuration tool, which I was led to when searching for how to turn off the auto raise functionality. In the "Window" section of gnome-tweak-tool, I have "Window focus mode" set to "Sloppy". I initially had it set to "Mouse", thinking that "Mouse" was the same as my preferred mode of operation, but found all my focused windows auto-raising. I couldn't find a way to turn off the auto raise functionality, so I searched some more and realized based on what I read online that what I was really looking for was "Sloppy" focus. That's funny, I consider the "Auto raise after a certain unable to define interval" functionality to be pretty sloppy. Anyway, after switching my "Window focus mode" to "Sloppy", I disappointingly found that the windows still auto-raised.

It seems that gnome-tweak-tool should allow me to set the focus the way that I want, because if set the "Window focus mode" to "Click", the desktop does change to the expected, but dreaded, MS Windows behavior of only focusing on windows I've clicked on.

FWIW, I am currently using Gnome Classic for my desktop environment. I didn't like the default Gnome shell much, for reasons similar to why I abandoned Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.x. I've tried Cinnamon too and find it pleasantly similar to Gnome Classic in many ways, and I haven't decided if I prefer it over Gnome Classic. My decision will probably depend on which one allows me to use "Sloppy" focus, which I haven't been able to do on either one, yet.

Does anyone know how to get the Window Focus Mode working the way I've described in Linux Mint 12?

Thanks,
kenwego

[kenwego]

No one knows??? Hmmmm, too bad. I'm sticking with Mint 12 but using icewm instead of those new-fangled fancy pants desktop environments.

[randomZash]

I know you're using classic, but just to let you know...Gnome3 does have a Sloppy mode in Advanced Settings(Gnome Tweak Tool) ->Windows->Window focus mode.

[kenwego]

Yes, I know that - I mentioned it in the third paragraph of my post. Neither it nor "Mouse" focus in Advanced Settings work as I expect, also as I mentioned. The moused over window raises after a moment. Very annoying.

[arachnia]

FWIW I am using CInnamon 1.3.1 and, although I haven't altered the window focus mode from default I just checked and 'Mouse' is selected.

If I have two gedit files open, one overlapping the other, and I move to and fro each, the keyboard is focussed on the one the mouse is over but it doesn't get raised to the top. Is this behaviour what you are after?

There is an option for 'sloppy focus' but that didn't seem to alter anything on my machine.

[kenwego]

Interesting - you seem to be experiencing the opposite of what I am experiencing. The way it behaves for you is what I seek. I am currently running Cinnamon 1.3.1 and Window Focus Mode is set to Mouse in both Cinnamon Settings and gnome-tweak-tool (not that that should matter since I'm running Cinnamon).

Man, I wish I could have standard mouse focus and still have a snazzy desktop. icewm has it's good aspects, but I'd rather be using something a modern desktop.

[HankB]

I wish I could help. I like the same focus policy that you want and I have that working for the Gnome desktop. In fact, I'm so accustomed to using that that it's one of the first thing that gets changed. I now have focus-follows-mouse but do not have auto-raise. I get this behavior with both Mouse and Sloppy focus policies. I wonder if this is not intended behavior. I was running Mint 11 until yesterday and preserved my home directory across the install. I wonder if something in that is affecting Gnome 3.

[arachnia]

I don't know whether my other window settings affect the window focus mode but in both my gnome advanced settings and cinnamon settings I have:

Action on title bar double-click: Toggle Shade
Action on title bar middle-click: Lower
Action on title bar right-click: Menu

In my view Mint is an excellent distro. I had a good set up just using Gnome Shell before Cinnamon came along and now I am very happy. I stuck with Ubuntu 10.04 till just a months or so ago - I had to find another distro as I couldn't face using Unity. I installed Mint on my second machine and moved my home folder from 10.04 across to it over the network (no hidden files though) and haven't had any problems.

I hope you can get a solution because if I had auto-raise it would drive me a bit bonkers!

[kenwego]

HankB - that's a good point, I did the same thing coming from ubuntu 10.04, hidden files and all, arachnia.

My other window settings are the same as yours.

Probably I should try backing up my home folder with only the hidden files I absolutely need and make a new user, based on both of you doing similar things to what I'm doing but having the beloved mouse focus. I feel very strongly about my focus. Thanks, guys, when I get a chance I'll do that and let you know how it goes. Until them, I'll be chillin on icewm.

[kenwego]

Okay, I switched to a fresh user and am now in mouse focus bliss. Thanks for leading me in that direction.

[Holiday]

From Re: Recent convert from ubuntu needs sloppy focus

I don't know whether my other window settings affect the window focus mode but in both my gnome advanced settings and cinnamon settings I have:

Action on title bar double-click: Toggle Shade
Action on title bar middle-click: Lower
Action on title bar right-click: Menu

...
!

I'm using a two-week old download of Mint, and this 'Toggle Shade' setting has no effect. Even though the setting is stored - it comes up as Toggle Shade when I open Advanced Settings - the behavior is 'Toggle Maximize'.

[DonaldDa]

I installed Cinnamon in Ubuntu 12.04 and love it except for the very same issue you are having. It was unclear to me how you solved that, but I found my own solution eventually.

First, install gnome-editor if it's not already there , i.e. sudo apt-get install gnome-editor

Run gnome-editor

Go into apps/metacity/general and there is a series of check boxes. One of them is auto raise and it' s checked. I unchecked it and immediately it gave the behavior we both prefer even before exiting the editor.

Don

[N31L]

I had the same issue with the mouse focus also raising the window to the front no matter what settings I made. It took me an hour to finally find the place where the "auto_focus" setting would actually affect the windowed behaviour in gnome.
I had verified that I had the correct settings (in gconf set auto_raise to false & focus_mode to sloppy) but no matter what I changed these settings to, the behaviour remained the same. I downloaded gnome-tweak-tool and made similar setting in the windows section of that, setting the windows focus mode to sloppy... but again, no change in behaviour. I also tried downloading ccsm (compizconfig settings manager) and setting the options there, but that didn't work either.
Finally, I went into dconf-editor (you can download it with 'sudo apt-get install dconf-tools' if you don't already have the package) and under:
org > gnome > desktop > wm > preferences
I found the same settings as in gconf-editor under Metacity. Here I unselected auto_raise and then changed the focus_mode to sloppy.
These settings actually took, and now the focus moves with the mouse -- without also bringing that window to the forefront.
Hopefully this helps.

[SLmanDR]

Interesting OP. I am using Cinnamon and found the window focus behavior bizarre. If I had a browser window open with a text file open beside it so I could drag an item from text file to form fields in browser it wouldn't drop in. I had to copy in the text doc, click on the <u>title</u> bar to bring the window forward, then click in the browser field and paste. If I clicked in the browser page anywhere but the title bar the page would not come forward. I thought to myself "I wonder how MATE handles this". So I logged out and launched in MATE. It handled the window focus properly by raising focus anywhere I clicked. I don't care for the menu layout though so I returned to Cinn. Lo and behold! The window is behaving more properly now. It will come forward with a click anywhere. But I can drag and drop only to the bookmark toolbar. Nowhere else. This is odd behavior that needs to be fixed in the code. One must be able to intuitively drag text from one window to another and drop it in wherever a text field is that will accept text. This shouldn't be a fiddly option. If one wishes to have the windows behave badly then perhaps one could find a way to make it so. But UI is standardized for a reason. Using a new DE shouldn't be disorienting. It must work as expected. Why handicap a user straight out of the box and make them less productive? Sloppy focus sounds like fuzzy logic. Definition states the focused window will retain the the cursor if the mouse pointer is moved away from that window. Nothing will change.
Default UI: The raised window must have the cursor at all times. The background window can be raised with a mouse click anywhere in the window. And the pasteboard follows the pointer.
Any deviations from there may be user options but YMMV.

[james.sevener]

Okay, I switched to a fresh user and am now in mouse focus bliss. Thanks for leading me in that direction.

Did you ever figure out the settings involved?

Finally got this on Windows at work and now can't not have it in Cinnamon.
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