Version: (using KDE 4.2.4) OS: Linux Installed from: Gentoo Packages There are (at least) two ways to switch windows. A: We have a list of windows: dolphin, kommander. firefox, kmail. Windows are in that particular order. If I press ALT-tab we will move in that order. After kmail, we will always get dolphin, and then kommander etc. If I move from kommander to firefox and stops there, next time I switch I will move to kmail, then dolphin and then kommander. B: We have the same list of windows. The order, how ever, is not strict. I switch to kommander, then I switch to firefox. Now I can toggle between those two with just a ALT-TAB. Now I found that if I chose "Focus follows mouse" in "window behaviour" (misspelled in dialog?) method B is applied. If I chose "Focus under mouse", method A is applied. I find it peculiar that this windows switching behaviour is defined by the follow mouse mode and should rather be a separate option. Regards, Erik
(In reply to comment #0) > I find it peculiar that this windows switching behaviour is defined by the > follow mouse mode and should rather be a separate option. Actually there is a seperate option. When changing the activation setting (focus follows mouse etc.) you will notice that one option in the dialog cannot be (de)activated any more.
Ok, I found the option, "Show windows list while switching desktop". The mouse focus setting will control this option which in turn controls the behaviour. There is a descriptive text in the help for the option where the last sentence informs me that if disabled, the current window is put last in the list. I still think that this (for me) vital behavioural change should not take several month to find by mistake, and I should not need to search forums to find the setting. Personally it have taken me 6 month (i.e KDE4 time) to find out and I consider my self as advanced experienced user. Can you please turn this into a feature request. My request is that whether the current window is put last or first in the list of windows shall be a separate option. Rationale: There is many situations when one would like to switch between two or three windows where active work takes place. Traversing the entire window list of the desktop every seconds time is just so annoying. E.g: * Developing software, compiler in a console window, web browser for info, editor in one window. * Having the normal desktop (mail, web etc) and switching between the two documents one is supposed to cope with. Another useful option is whether minimized windows shall be included in the list or not.
(In reply to comment #2) > Can you please turn this into a feature request. > > My request is that whether the current window is put last or first in the list > of windows shall be a separate option. We had a similar bug report some time ago - I just don't have the time to search for it. The problem is that those options cannot be separated. I just give you a source code extract from tabbox.cpp if ( options->altTabStyle == Options::CDE || !options->focusPolicyIsReasonable()) { // CDE style raise / lower CDEWalkThroughWindows( false ); } and in CDEWalkThroughWindows we find the following comment: // this function find the first suitable client for unreasonable focus // policies - the topmost one, with some exceptions (can't be keepabove/below, // otherwise it gets stuck on them) You see your focus policiy is "unreasonable". Which makes using the list impossible. In the moment you select a window it would change again because of mouse position.
On the other hand. To improve visibility for the user (if this improves usability to average user is another thing), it would be possible to have this option as a separate check-box which is enabled and disabled depending of the mouse focusing policy selected and allowing the user to chose either to have a box or not independently. Did I get you right that it is not the box but the window order that makes the box-option unavailable for some focus modes? The main reason for writing this is that I spent so long time to figure out why this worked sometimes and not allways. My point is not necessary that my personal preferred switching method shall work on all mouse focusing modes, but that it shall be clear to me if it does.
I mark as duplicate of our we have to improve alt+tab bug. Probably something will be done for 4.4 *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 118184 ***