RE: `auto-dim-other-windows` -- scrutiny invited

[Ludwig, Mark]

> From: Steven Degutis
> Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 9:44 AM

> Why didn't anything like this exist all this time?

I think you're answering your own question in part by going
through all the variations and challenges with the various
approaches.

Another answer is that many Emacs users have been using it for a
very long time, and the user base is self-selecting
(self-limiting?) by the fundamental nature of the baroque command
set and standard keyboard mappings.  (Only people with certain
kinds of wetware in their heads can handle it successfully.  It's
certainly not for everyone!)  If one can keep track of the
hundreds of key strokes and functions necessary to make using
Emacs really great, it's not usually much of a problem to
remember where the keyboard focus is.

For my part, I rarely lose track of where I am, but when I do, my
fingers reflexively go for ``C-/'' (undo) until the "damage" is
undone, then ``C-x o'' to get focus where I thought it was.
Nowadays, I take advantage of the multiple frame support, which
reduces the need for splitting a single frame into multiple
windows, and most window managers decorate the frame with focus
sufficiently to avoid making a mistake.

I have to confess to never noticing the change in mode line
shading (until this thread)!  What /I/ /usually/ notice is
whether the cursor is a solid or hollow block....

Cheers,
Mark