Clickthrough
New hack fixes the irritating aspect of Mac OSX that if you click on a background window, the window may react to the click as well come to the foreground. Article.
Update: there may be a downside. I am used to, many times every day, to drag a folder or file from the Finder into an app. Now I have to click on the finder first before it reacts. I'll have to see whether this proves too much of a disadvantage in the long run.
5 Comments:
I haven't checked this yet, but there could be a similar problem of 'clickthrough' in Windows Vista with the Aero user interface, because it has variable transparency which will allow 'clickthrough' if the top window is sufficiently transparent.
On the Mac it's not a bug, it's a feature. Only it's a feature which irritates many people.
And OK, sometimes it's OK, you can save a click. But it means you have to be on guard all the time.
From what I can tell it seems to be the same way on Windows XP. Personally, I like it that way for the same reason as Eolake. I can immediately start working in the background window without have to focus on it first. There are times when I don't want the window to do something but that's when I click on a non-reactive portion such as the title bar or background.
I've never even thought about changing how that works. I hope they don't come out with a "fix" that changes it.
"On the Mac it's not a bug, it's a feature."
It's also a 'feature' in Vista, and
also very annoying. Mighty Microsoft probably got the idea from Apple,
and it's one they should have avoided. It's a pain in the ass.
Instead of clicking through, here's a really handy little program for reducing an open window to its title bar with a click, and re-open it with another. It's freeware, and works on any Windows 2K or above.
http://www.palma.com.au/winroll/
Once you try it, you'll wonder how you got along without it.
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