When are Apple going to fix this window focus bug

eric halfabee

eric halfabee

You talking to me!
If it is a bug or a oversight but I just can't get over this little annoyance - which may have been covered before and apologies if so.

Anyway here's my screenshot of the annoying thing.

I would have thought that if I was in Freehand (or any other app for that matter) I wouldn't see any other app or finder window.

Its been this way since 10.0.

what do you all think of this.

I have reported this to Apples web site BTW.


eric


:(
 

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i don't get that (btw how did you get the shortcuts (i presume) on the right side of the finder window?)
 
Hi JetwingX

Yeah, it doesn't happen all the time but its damn annoying when it does, and I have sort of learnt to live with it, but I though it should have been cleared up by now.

The shortcuts are 'Default Folder' its very handy check it out on versiontracker.com.

eric
 
i know exactly what you're talking about and it drives me crazy too...
I've been using desktop manager so i rarely have overlapping windows and its not really a problem for me any more.
 
It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Seriously, maybe they meant for it to do that, just in case you want to switch back to the finder windows, easily.
 
adambyte said:
It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Seriously, maybe they meant for it to do that, just in case you want to switch back to the finder windows, easily.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a feature because it does not happen on my machine using Freehand MX and Panther, everything is fine.........
 
Thanks all for your replies.

exOdus, its noy just Freehand it does it on, but it is pretty random and I cannot remember what I was doing when it happened.

Hi Ricky, please tell me why you enjoy the way it works? ;)

eric
 
Interleaving all windows instead of only the windows belonging to an application seems to just make more sense to me. ;)
 
eric halfabee said:
I would have thought that if I was in Freehand (or any other app for that matter) I wouldn't see any other app or finder window.

Its been this way since 10.0.
Click to expand...

Ummm... it has been that way much longer than 10.0.

It is a feature of the Mac OS that you can work with a number of apps at any one time. It is what separates Windows types of systems (where an app takes over the screen) from just about everything else (Mac, SGI, NeXT, etc) where applications are free flowing and more than one app can be seen/used at any one time.

I don't just use one app at a time, why would I not want access to the other apps. I tend to multitask. It is one of the main reasons I have always said that Windows is for secretaries and gamers... those are people who are usually doing only one task at a time and more than one thing would distract them from their work/game. The rooted app environment of Windows is my number one problem with Windows (beyond the fact that it is a Microsoft product).

I guess if all you use is Freehand, you can do a Hide Others to not see the other apps.
 
It happens to me on dreamweaver and it SUCKS. Dreamweaver can be the frontmost app but the main window is stuck behind finder windows. :confused:

Honestly I think it's a Macromedia Bug since that's the only family of apps i have the issues with.
 
Hi RacerX, yes I can see your point to some extent but to me its more of a flaw, also can't recall it happening to me in older Mac OS's. If Im working in Freehand or any other of app I obviously don't need to see the other apps windows etc, if I need to use/go to another app I just switch. Actually its not really about seeing the background app, I don't mind that its when one app gets intertwined with another.

Anyway its just a little peeve of mine and it doesn't really stop my enjoyment of a wonderful OS.

Twister, you could beright about it being a Macromedia bug, if it happens again I shall try and remember what I was doing.

Cheers
 
eric halfabee said:
If Im working in Freehand or any other of app I obviously don't need to see the other apps windows etc,
Click to expand...

Well, I don't use Freehand, but I do use Create, Photoshop, ImageReady, GoLive, TextEdit and OmniWeb all at the same time. And for me it is very important to be able to see the content of another apps windows while working in the foreground app. While in ImageReady I may be editing an image which is already being displayed in GoLive. If I have to base my edits on memory (which is what I would be doing if I couldn't see GoLive) I might have to make more corrections or switch back and forth a lot to check my work against what is in the other app.

I have very few apps that I use which do not require the use of other apps. Even in OmniWeb (for this and other posts) I have use Watson, Nisus Thesaurus and OmniDictionary all at the same time. On my system, no apps stands alone... and they shouldn't have too.
 
Looking at the image, this is pretty darn possible to happen, especially with Open/Save dialogs. However, I wonder what you did to bring the Finder windows forward. Could you give more information as to what you did that causes this? If this is a case of windows magically popping forward, then it is probably a bug in Macromedia's code or maybe Default Folder (you never know)... if this is a case of them popping forward because of user interaction, then it is normal behavior of the MacOS since System 7 made multi-tasking a permanent part of the OS.
 
Right I have managed to replicate it.

In Freehand and even InDesign CS, I go to save as and the dialogue box comes up and then switch to the finder (with open finder windows), I then click back onto the save as dialogue box and bingo. Safari doesn't do it maybe because of those nifty slide out boxes. Mail, Fireworks doesn't (Fireworks has those slide out boxes too). So far its Freehand MX (not 2004), InDesign CS, Photoshop CS and Dreamweaver MX 2004. Haven't tried it yet with Default Folder turned off.

eric
 
It's been introduced to the Mac with Mac OS X. There's a few third party utilities that 'fix' this (I like it). The most _easy_ way to 'recover', though, is to click on the app's icon in the Dock. Brings all of its window to the front...

Also: The apps you mention sadly do not make use of 'sheets' (try save as in TextEdit), which is sad (and solves the problem, too, in a way).
 
Okay, that is normal behavior. In MacOS, when you click a window, you only bring that window into focus. It has been like this for ages. Floating windows are the exception, coming into focus when one of the app's windows is in focus. (Adobe/Macromedia apps make heavy use of floating windows) When you switch to an app using the Applications menu in MacOS 9, it brought all the app's windows forward, and gave focus to the window that was front-most for the app.

In MacOS X, this behavior was refined a little, because of the dock. If you click a window, the owning application is activated, but only that window is given focus. Floating windows are made visible when the application is activated as well. When you click on the app's icon in the dock, it brings all the application's windows forward and activates the app.

In this case, it isn't a bug, it is a feature. :)
 
It might help if we knew exactly what you are talking about. If you are talking about seeing other apps while seeing the foreground app, that is a feature of the Mac OS, always has been. You did say...

If Im working in Freehand or any other of app I obviously don't need to see the other apps windows etc,
Click to expand...

But many of us work in environments where we do need to see the other app's windows.

On the other hand, if when you go to save and the save window pops up and some other app's windows pop up too, that would be a bug.

A clear description is always helpful. I didn't even get what you were talking about (if, in fact, this is what you are talking about) until fryke posted. I can only imagine that anyone at Apple reading your letters would be at just as much of a loss as to what you were talking about.

For the record, seeing other app's windows is a feature of having non-rooted applications. Having other app's windows move to the foreground when a dialog window opens is a bug (most likely of either Carbon, not following Apple's GUI guidelines, or a combination of the two).
 
RacerX if, sorry if I didn't make it clear enough, maybe you should take of those blue tinted glasses. ;)

OK Just for you – when working in Freehand MX and doing a save as the save dialogue box appears. If when this dialogue box is open (which is part of the Freehand document and therefore should stay with the Freehand document) I switch to the Finder using the 'Apple+Tab' combo (which I may add I don't do all that often) it switches to the Finder and leaves Freehand visible in the background which Im not complaining about. If for some reason I don't do the combo key switch back to Freehand and instead click on the open 'Save As' dialogue box any finder windows that are open get interleaved between the 'Save As' dialogue box and the Freehand document window. After I click save the interleaved Finder windows disappear and everything returns to normal/back to the Freehand document.

This doesn't happen when I do do the 'Apple+Tab' combo switch back to Freehand – so I say its a bug, but as I've stated before its not one of those nasty bugs you run a mile from but one that you look at closely and go ahh isn't that kind of cute but strange then squash it bugs.

And I have never come across it happening in the old OS (and Iv'e been using Macs since '1990, but thats just my experience.

Hope Iv'e made it a little clearer?


eric
 
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