05 February 2011

What is focus in computing?

'In computing, the focus indicates the component of the graphical user interface which is currently selected to receive input. Moving the focus away from a specific user interface element is known as a blur event in relation to this element.'

By convention, the tab key is used to move the focus to the next focusable component and shift + tab to the previous one.

There are several window management policies for focus:

Click to focus

On most mainstream user-interfaces, such as ones made by Microsoft and Apple, where one must click the mouse inside of the window for that window to gain focus.

Focus follows pointer

Another common policy on UNIX systems using X11 is the "focus follows mouse" policy (or FFM), where the focus automatically follows the current placement of the pointer.

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