>> When I turn off 2), all new windows appear underneath, which is not >> what >> I want. I would like new windows to appear on top, but not above >> (and >> therefore cover, and take mouse/keyboard focus) a window that is >> currently in the middle of a mouse/keyboard action. > > Well, then you don't want it “on top”. And basically a window can be > on > top but not have focus. (yes I know, this is really hard, and I guess > it's harder for window manager developers :) )
The algorithm can be conceived: Z-depth of new window should be set as "on top" at the point in time when the user clicks/double-clicks the application icon or starts the app from the cmd line. the Z-depth of a newer window, i.e. an app started more recently in time, should be higher again, even though the window for the previously started app has not yet started. We can conceive a window manager wrapper for all "gui" apps: - the wrapper passes through all options to the underlying program - the wrapper does a single thing in addition: it also "passes" somehow (perhaps via an environment variable), the desired Z-order for "windows about to be created" Regards, Zenaan
