IDEA: auto move dialog boxes nearer to mouse cursor

[nudone]

this is something i tried to tempt mouser with a while back but it wasn't really the right place or time...

concept: small confirmation dialog boxes appear several times during the course of a days computing. these are the sort of boxes that just require a simple click to confirm or deny an action.

i'd like to have these little pop-up windows open nearer to my mouse cursor location so that, in effect, they come to me and not me to them.

as an example: you drag a file to delete to the recycle bin which is at the side of you screen and then you get a 'do you want to delete this?' type of box appear in the center of your screen so you have you move the cursor to the center just to click 'yes'.

okay, i must sound petty. but when it's happens over and over again during the day it starts to become tiresome. i'm not just talking about putting files into the recycle bin - i'm annoyed with how all dialog windows appear in the center of your monitor, thereby interrupting your workflow and having to move the cursor back and forth, back and forth, just for a simple click.

wouldn't it make more sense that any dialog box opened up under where your mouse cursor was situated (or near to it without the window opening off screen) so as to reduce the amount of shuffling around like we are all expected to do with windows.

i know there are options to have the mouse cursor jump to the active button but this is equally annoying - you have to waste a few milliseconds trying to figure out where your cursor has suddenly jumped to and you still have to move the cursor back to the original position when you've clicked the box away.

i think this might be possible to sort out with 'AutoIt' but i'm not fluent enough with it to try.

i also hope that someone agrees with this idea at least in principle otherwise i'm going to feel like a right moaning git.

[TenPlus1]

There's already a feature in Windows that places your mouse pointer right on top of the default button on any new requesters that open...

[Dragonrider]

Yes this can be done with AutoIt.  But it would have to be a tray icon/constantly checking type of program.  It might be something that the "WinFocus" program I'm writing would be able to do while it's checking for changes in the active window.

Maybe for version 2 of WinFocus I'll add this in.

Regards
Dragonrider

[nudone]

that's great. a tray based program sounds more than reasonable to me and if it works as part of an upgrade with WinFocus then that sounds good also.

i hope you find the time to implement it Dragonrider.

[Scott]

.

[Scott]

.

[dtrud0h]

I'm sorry I have to disagree with you on that point Scott.

 

nevermind, never saw the point (Saved by Mouser)

[mouser]

hey guys, just a friendly reminder,
try not to remove content from posts after someone has replied to them; if you feel need to retract or edit, just post a follow up, or edit the post and add a note about how you changed your mind, etc.  but if you delete stuff it makes the rest of the thread very confusing.

ps.
some of you (cough cough scott cough cough) are managing to scare the hell out of me by doing little clever hacks to their avatars and signatures and stuff   please limit such things to april fool's day as it confuses the hell out of me and makes me think the forum software has been hacked

[nudone]

i apologize for removing my comment (i know it's not the done thing to do). i may be being paranoid but i got the impression from the '.' posts by Scott that i had somehow offended him so i thought it best to delete my words.

[wr975]

okay, i must sound petty. but when it's happens over and over again during the day it starts to become tiresome. i'm not just talking about putting files into the recycle bin - i'm annoyed with how all dialog windows appear in the center of your monitor, thereby interrupting your workflow and having to move the cursor back and forth, back and forth, just for a simple click.

Back in Windows 3.11 I liked a tool called "Squeaky Mouse" by someone called 'ike' so much, I sent cash over to Japan and wanted to register it. Too bad my cash never reached the author and development stopped anyway. It never made it to Windows 95.

This tool would do exactly what you're looking for, just in the other way. Not move the boxes to the mouse cursor, but move the mouse cursor to the boxes.

If a message box appears, it'd move the mouse cursor to the default button. And here's the big difference: Once clicked, the program would move the cursor back to its previous position. So, you'd answer the message box, but the mouse cursor would be in the same position.

Another difference to other mouse cursor placement programs/mouse drivers: The mouse would run towards the button, no instant placement (jumping). So you'd really see it moving. The movement speed could be adjusted *and* if you'd move the mouse cursor while "Squeaky" was in control, it'd abort the operation and release the mouse cursor.

Another option was a black list, for application to leave unbothered.

FWIW, the program was called Squeaky Mouse, because each time it'd take over it turned the mouse cursor into a running mouse and do a "Squeaky" noise.

I'd love to see a tool like this again. It really lowered the need to move the mouse... But I guess there's a reason development stopped.

[nudone]

wr975, that 'squeaky mouse' sounds like a novel take on the idea though i'm sure the sound effect would have become very annoying.

there is another annoying point that my original request would also resolve that evidently wouldn't be addressed by 'squeaky mouse': that of having to keep moving ones focal attention away from what you are doing on screen and instead move your vision to the button on the dialog box that pops up.

at least 'squeaky' understood the problem and would move the cursor back to it's original position but this still isn't anywhere near as good as the dialog box appearing at a position you already had your cursor AND eyes focussed.

i'm surprised more people aren't annoyed by these common centraly opening windows - i really don't see the need or the benefit of the fixed center positioning (especially not on high resolution monitors). i even believe that at some point the intelligently self positioning pop-up window will become the standard way the windows interface works.

i'm going to have to learn how to make this thing myself i think - i'm beginning to wind myself up over it.

[Scott]

Oh, believe me, you're not alone in being annoyed by those kinds of dialog boxes.  I have a list of computing peeves that has been in place (in my mind) for years.

I can't stand useless, cutesy sounds in applications, and I can't stand useless dialog boxes that can't be done away with, or forms that don't remember their size or position.

I used Push The Freakin' Button for awhile, but it's not really ideal.  I could live with Squeaky Mouse or whatever it is, if it existed today.  What reason would there be for development to stop?  (Besides the usual reasons.  Just wondering if I missed out on a secret here.)

[wr975]

sound effect would have become very annoying

It was, but it could be disabled of course. 

I have no idea why development stopped. I suppose not enough demand/feedback/money...

[mouser]

i hope this discussion continues..
i'm trying to nudge some of the other coders here to join me in a project that would be watching windows and doing manipulations, where this kind of thing would be something we could add to it..