Adding color to Compact Style buttons

[hornakapopolis]

Is there any way to add some color to the Exit, Restore, and Minimize buttons that changes is Avant is the active window or not... the way the normal title bar buttons do?

I use Alt-Tab a lot and am running three monitors. I find myself stuttering and double-checking that Avant is actually what I landed on because there's no change in its physical appearance when its active in Compact.

Also, I think I'm running into a focus bug where Avant isn't keeping its place when I Alt-Tab. (Alt-Tab FoxIt Reader, Alt-Tab Avant, Alt-Tab FoxIt Reader, Alt-Tab... something else pops up) I'm not submitting this as an issue, but it's another case when it'd be helpful to get some visual clues as to Avant being active as opposed to just everything else being inactive.

[Jasmine]

Do you want to add the color to the avant button on the windows task bar?

[hornakapopolis]

...the Exit, Restore, and Minimize buttons

The task bar buttons get highlighted, but for those that hide the Windows task bar, that doesn't really help.

[Jasmine]

Sorry, I haven't understood yet. I dont understand what those Exit, Restore and Minimize buttons belong to? You don't refer to the exit/restore/minimize buttons on avant interface, right? If Avant is maximized, it's not necessary to highlight them.

[hornakapopolis]

You don't refer to the exit/restore/minimize buttons on avant interface, right?

Yes, these. You're thinking one monitor. This is a multi-monitor issue

[hornakapopolis]

I initially posted this as a Compact View issue, but it also affects Avant's new interface.

Again, with Aero, there's nothing that visually shows that Avant currently has focus. With normal Aero title bar buttons, they're clear when the app doesn't have focus and become colored when it gains focus. Avant looks the same whether it has focus or not... so, if you're using multiple monitors, the only visual way to tell Avant has focus is to look at all of your other open windows... which is a bit silly.

This is a bigger issue than it probably should be, too, because of all of Avant's focus issues between the UI and the rendering pane.

If someone is working with text fields across multiple applications and uses Alt+Tab to switch, if Avant doesn't correctly pull focus the only way you'll know is to either start typing and see nothing appear (which isn't definitive because you might be stuck in a listbox, checkmark box, etc.) or grab the mouse and actually click on Avant. I don't think my case is all too, but maybe I'm wrong. Multiple monitors are pretty common these days and not everyone likes to take their hands off of the keyboard to move a mouse. Admittedly, I'm not a typist, so I spend 70% of the time looking at the keyboard, though.

Still, a visual representation that your application has focus seems to be a standard thing and Avant's non-standard titlebar seems to be the only reason Avant doesn't do it.

[xiaobing]

Recorded.

[hornakapopolis]

I'm sure work on this is just about done (I was guessing something like this would take about 3 years to figure out when I initially started this thread, so I hope I'm not too late in adding this)

I just thought I'd add another 'real world' scenario as this is probably the thing that makes me curse Avant more than anything else. This, combined with Avant's focus issue is really frustrating. I use Ctrl+W to close tabs, but when Avant loses focus (for no reason) you end up closing whatever else you're working on.

So, if I have a project I'm typing up in an application window, I might have a few tabs open while working on it. I go to a tab to make sure I don't need anything else, Ctrl+W to close which takes me to the next tab... nope, don't need anything there, either, Ctrl+W to close, but Avant has lost focus and my project window closes. Were there some sort of visual cue that Avant has lost focus, it'd certainly prevent this.

I get that the focus 'bug' must be hard to fox as I'm pretty sure we're hitting a decade for that one, but I'd hope that adding a splash of color somewhere as a visual indicator of focus would not be that difficult at all.