7 ms·

I'd take the obnoxious flashing over applications stealing focus. If there was a single design change I'd make to Windows, it would be to make it impossible fo

I'd take the obnoxious flashing over applications stealing focus. If there was a single design change I'd make to Windows, it would be to make it impossible for one application to steal focus from another (without user intervention). TweakUI used to do this via the "Prevent Applications from Stealing Focus" checkbox on the General -> Focus tab. But TweakUI ended with XP/2003 Server unfortunately. To give an example, I was typing away in Word, really on a roll, and suddenly Apple's iTunes auto updater had focused ate an entire sentence and my concentration was destroyed. Thanks Windows.

jackhack 10y ago
This is the one "killer feature" that keeps me on a Mac. Stealing focus is more than annoying -- it's dangerous. When a Windows dialog pops up with focus set to "OK", all it takes is a press of the space bar and poof! you've just "clicked" OK on God knows what. Even worse, now that it's dismissed, you can't go back and see what you just OKed. The next 30 seconds are sure to be spent wondering "what's about to happen? Will the system reboot? Did I just install an upgrade? Or open the firewall? or ???"
- taneq 10y ago
  Agreed, this is probably my #1 pet hate on any modern OS, along with the "web page loads a new element somewhere above the cursor just as I click, sending my click to a new and unwanted place."
  - nurettin 10y ago
    I saw that happen consistently on a web page I forgot. It was a scheme! There was an event trigger on a text element and it popped open a div to scroll a picture right below your mouse cursor.
- glenneroo 10y ago
  I've noticed that some programs are courteous enough to deactivate focus so that pressing space/enter doesn't do anything. Though I'm guessing they just forgot to set MessageBoxResult.
undersuit 10y ago
Jumping on the stealing focus train. Biggest issue I have with this is... when focus gets stolen to a dialog box... and the button to dismiss the dialog looks focused... but it's not. Thank you Windows UAC prompt.
mistermann 10y ago
On top of it, in cases where you would actually want focus stolen, or at least pushing a window to the front, is Outlook reminders. But no, in the case of a fricking reminder, Microsoft seems to have thought keeping that hidden was the best user experience.
- wolfgang42 10y ago
  In Outlook 2016, at least, the reminders window generally (I assume always but haven't paid close enough attention) appears atop everything else but unfocused (and with a highlighted taskbar entry). Once you focus it for the first time it turns into an ordinary window which can be put underneath as usual, but it's impossible to miss it since it sits in the middle of the monitor right over whatever else you were doing.
  - mistermann 10y ago
    That certainly wasn't my experience with Outlook 2016.
    - wolfgang42 10y ago
      I paid closer attention today, and found that it's not as simple as I thought. My current guess is that the notification appears on top if the user does not seem to be active, or the taskbar cannot be seen (for example due to fullscreen remote desktop), and pops-under with an orange taskbar icon if the user seems to be currently using the computer. Clearly the behavior is more complex than I originally assumed, and I can see why it would be confusing. (I have four different apps that have decided to notify me for a calendar appointment--Outlook 2016, Windows 10's Calendar app, Outlook for Android, and the Google Calendar app--so it's pretty much impossible for me to not notice the cacophony and I never paid close attention to how Outlook did it.)
red75prime 10y ago
Programmer needs to do additional work to steal focus in modern windows. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32032548/steal-focus-as-setforegroundwindow-cant-do-it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32032548/steal-focus-as-s... So, thank Apple, please.
- flukus 10y ago
  It's still the default that any just opened app will steal focus.
cm2187 10y ago
The worst is when you are in the middle of an Excel formula or a line of code and windows covers your screen with a full screen banner. It's not UX wizardry, it's common sense...
probablybroken 10y ago
This is a constant irritation for me on Linux too. My other pet peeve is the fact that you can have more than one caret, or a blinking caret visible in an unfocused window - causing you to type thinking that input will go to one location when it actually goes elsewhere.

jackhack 10y ago

This is the one "killer feature" that keeps me on a Mac. Stealing focus is more than annoying -- it's dangerous. When a Windows dialog pops up with focus set to "OK", all it takes is a press of the space bar and poof! you've just "clicked" OK on God knows what. Even worse, now that it's dismissed, you can't go back and see what you just OKed. The next 30 seconds are sure to be spent wondering "what's about to happen? Will the system reboot? Did I just install an upgrade? Or open the firewall? or ???"

taneq 10y ago
Agreed, this is probably my #1 pet hate on any modern OS, along with the "web page loads a new element somewhere above the cursor just as I click, sending my click to a new and unwanted place."
- nurettin 10y ago
  I saw that happen consistently on a web page I forgot. It was a scheme! There was an event trigger on a text element and it popped open a div to scroll a picture right below your mouse cursor.
glenneroo 10y ago
I've noticed that some programs are courteous enough to deactivate focus so that pressing space/enter doesn't do anything. Though I'm guessing they just forgot to set MessageBoxResult.

undersuit 10y ago

Jumping on the stealing focus train. Biggest issue I have with this is... when focus gets stolen to a dialog box... and the button to dismiss the dialog looks focused... but it's not. Thank you Windows UAC prompt.

mistermann 10y ago

On top of it, in cases where you would actually want focus stolen, or at least pushing a window to the front, is Outlook reminders. But no, in the case of a fricking reminder, Microsoft seems to have thought keeping that hidden was the best user experience.

wolfgang42 10y ago
In Outlook 2016, at least, the reminders window generally (I assume always but haven't paid close enough attention) appears atop everything else but unfocused (and with a highlighted taskbar entry). Once you focus it for the first time it turns into an ordinary window which can be put underneath as usual, but it's impossible to miss it since it sits in the middle of the monitor right over whatever else you were doing.
- mistermann 10y ago
  That certainly wasn't my experience with Outlook 2016.
  - wolfgang42 10y ago
    I paid closer attention today, and found that it's not as simple as I thought. My current guess is that the notification appears on top if the user does not seem to be active, or the taskbar cannot be seen (for example due to fullscreen remote desktop), and pops-under with an orange taskbar icon if the user seems to be currently using the computer. Clearly the behavior is more complex than I originally assumed, and I can see why it would be confusing. (I have four different apps that have decided to notify me for a calendar appointment--Outlook 2016, Windows 10's Calendar app, Outlook for Android, and the Google Calendar app--so it's pretty much impossible for me to not notice the cacophony and I never paid close attention to how Outlook did it.)

red75prime 10y ago

Programmer needs to do additional work to steal focus in modern windows. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32032548/steal-focus-as-setforegroundwindow-cant-do-it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32032548/steal-focus-as-s... So, thank Apple, please.

flukus 10y ago
It's still the default that any just opened app will steal focus.

cm2187 10y ago

The worst is when you are in the middle of an Excel formula or a line of code and windows covers your screen with a full screen banner. It's not UX wizardry, it's common sense...

probablybroken 10y ago

This is a constant irritation for me on Linux too. My other pet peeve is the fact that you can have more than one caret, or a blinking caret visible in an unfocused window - causing you to type thinking that input will go to one location when it actually goes elsewhere.