The solution that Macintosh applications, other than Squeak, use is to have the cursor disappear the instant you begin to type. It reappears when you move or click. I really that model.

It's probably not that difficult to implement. The real trick here would be to have Preferences to control all of these options. I've tried the Linux model where the window follows the pointer but does not "raise" to have focus. That's kind of neat too. But then I have equally watched folks who are less geek-like than myself and conclude that bringing the window to the top and then hide the pointer when you type is the easiest to use.

- Steve

On Monday, September 3, 2001, at 01:22 AM, Russell Allen wrote:

Karl Ramberg karl.ramberg@chello.se wrote:

...

Wow! Great. This was one of the first things that got me when I started to use Squeak. I did a crude implementaiton of this same thing back then. This seems better and should be in the image!

Karl

I really agree with this. I have been using a program written in Squeak in a classroom lab situation, and almost all of the students have problems with the current focus scheme. They have strong muscle-memory to click in a text box then to throw the pointer out of the way before typing. Yes, I could and do train them; but one of the major points of the software is to reduce the amount of learning needed for a particular task :) :)

Having this as a preference in the image would definately ease one of the initial problems people from MacOS and Windows backgrounds encounter when trying Squeak.

Russell

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Russell Allen

russell.allen@firebirdmedia.com

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