[DEPRECATED] Alerts: problem with keyboard input

["Andrew Armanini" <armanini iprimus com au>]

Hi all,

There's been a problem with alerts or popup requestors in GUIs since their  
inception. If you are typing and an alert pops up you can dismiss the  
alert without knowing what it was about. I'm suprised that no one seems to  
have fixed this in any GUI I've seen for over a decade.

It would be better if an alert didn't accept input directly from the  
keyboard from simple typing. Perhaps an alert should be passive until the  
user notices, understands and responds to it. This is especially annoying  
if the alert is from a process that isn't in front.

Possible alternatives:

1. Instead of an entire alert poping up; a small icon or similar appears  
on the edge of the screen, over the panel or similar place and flashes or  
otherwise attracts attention. It does not gain focus until the user clicks  
on it with the mouse or hits an appropriatly complex key combination. Then  
the alert pops up and seeks confirmation.

2. Alert pops up as normal; except has no focus and stays ontop until the  
user clicks on it with the mouse or hits an appropriatly complex key  
combination.

Thanks for your time,
Andrew Armanini.