A prime directive for User Interaction

If you're familiar with the sci-fi francise called "Star Trek", a depiction of humanity in a more evolved, more civilized state, you will already be familiar with the concept of a prime directive. For everyone else i wil explain it in this post and also show why we need such a prime directive for user interaction.

A prime directive as depicted by star trek is a law.

For the purpose of restoring user interfaces to their former good standing, and putting the user back in their rightful plase as the surpreme ruler of their computers, i want to take the concept of the prime directive one step further. Not only should the prime directive stand above all other laws, all other laws should be derived from the prime directive. The essence, and soul in every law should inherit the philosophy of the prime directive.
And that prime directive is:

The user must at all times be in complete control of their computing activity.

Upon reading this, a critic might argue that this is impossible. In order to be in complete control of the computer, the user would have to flip every bit and manipulate every register manually. This is not using a computer.
the key word is Activity. This refers to what the User is doing, not what is happening in the background.,

Kwin window manager

Kwin is the default window manager for the K desktop environment. In the near future, I will explain in further detail what a window manager is and what a desktop environment is.
The important information right now is the fact that kwin is your guardian against UI harassment . especially violent focus stealing and oppressive Z-sorting of application windows.
In this post, i will describe in detail the benefits of using kwin in everyday desktop use.
As stated before, the sole and highest authority of the desktop is the user. No program may disturb the order established by the user without express order by the user.

Focus stealing protection

this video shows what happens if you tell the terminal emulator application to open a new window. first, without focus stealing protection, and then with kwin focus stealing protection
the blue window decoration indicates focus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0oQvCmn81Q

The kwin settings can be reached through the window menu or  kde settings -> window behavior

 window z-ordering

Another advantage of the Kwin window manager is z-ordering for the windows.

Applications automatically making themselves always on top

A window wants to force itself to be always on top? kwin can put a stop to this outrageous insubordination.
To disable an application from forcing itself on top, click on the application  icon/window button on the top left corner of the window's window decoration. Then go to more actions >  and click special application settings
the  window for editing application-specific settings will open. Go to the Arrangement & Access tab.

Enable the Keep above control. In the drop-down menu, select Force, and click the radio button No

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-XkXd_A8o

congratulations. You have prevented this application from staying always on top. Not even setting the always-on-top flag from the window manager settings under more actions will be able to force this window on top now.  you can choose to edit this setting at any time. If you, however, want to choose  the always-on-top setting from the application window menu manually, you should select remember or apply initially from the drop-down menu.

Introducing desktop user defense

Hi, i'm Jazoray and i'm a survivor and victim of  User interface harrassment.

I want to educate about this  method of oppression in the hopes that people who are suffering similarly can find help, and that hopefully, if we all fight together, we can create a better future where computer users are not put in danger anymore.

Today, more than ever, computer users are threatened.
They are threatened to lose control of their desktop. They are under the threat of being opressed by the software they are supposed to trust. Software vendors all over the world are trying to wrest absolute control over your computer. And you, your computer's owner, are not invited.
But fear not, i will guide you and enable you to fight back against the tyrants.

Focus stealing

To understand what focus is, we first need to introduce the concept of focus. Focus is simply saying which window on the desktop and which control inside a window receives input. Focus stealing is when some program decides that instead of the window you were just working on, your inputs now go to another window. simply because the program wanted it. Isn't this treason, isn't this usurping of power?
Focus stealing is omnipresent these days. On the windows platform,  any program suddenly grabbing focus is even expected behavior, meaning that at no point you can expect your next keystroke to target the same window as your previous one.

Modal dialogs

Modal dialogs preventing  the user to work on what he wants to work on. It is a form of focus stealing. It's even a worse form of focus stealing, because it forces you to interact with the modal window by blocking access to its parent window.

forced marriage. that is what modal dialogs are like

for another analogy: imagine you're painting a picture of happy little trees. but as you try to use green, red comes up and says "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE GREEN UNTIL YOU FINISHED USING RED. AND I WILL DECIDE WHEN YOU'RE DONE USING RED" and then violently blocks you from using green. You are forced to give up your freedom of choice. you are forced to use onlz red until red decides it's done you have lost all control

Z-sorting of windows

Z-sorting refers to the order windows are stacked on each other on the desktop. Many people falsely belive  that the currently focused window is always the topmost window. But this is nonsense. What if i have a large  window behind a small  window that i want to interact with, but still look at the small window while i interact with the lower, larger window.
This is why z-sorting is independant from focus.

Inefficient use of screen space

I has long been established that the minimum amount of pixels required to In the past 20 years, the count of pixels available on our screen has increased more than tenfold.
20 years ago, the average desktop resolution was 640 by 480
640*480= 307200
 today, the average desktop resolution is  2556 bby 1440
2556*1440=3680640

3680640/307200=11.98125

yet, despite this tremendous increase, we are unable to fit more windows into our desktop to multitask more efficiently. why? because evil oligarchic corporations keep increasing the size of the GUI.

Complete hostile takeover of the hardware

When you buy a computer, regardless whether it's prebuilt or self-built, a desktop or a smartphone. you own it. it's your silicon, your copper, your plastic. yet microsoft reserves the right to turn your computer on or off at any time.

The folly of the herd marching quickly towards the slaughterhouse

Yet, more and more people are openly embracing the loss of control over their desktop.



In this blog, i will gather examples of the aforementioned wrongdoing in a kind of hall of shame. I will reccommend alternatives and workarounds to deal with the evils described above. I do take requests. All we desktop users are together in this terrorist assault against our rights. Almost every large software vendor is guilty of one or more of the aforementioned transgressions. It is an uphill battle. But if we do not despair and remainn steadfast, we can win back our freedom

So what can YOU do?

spread the word. Link to this blog. Talk about the issues. start your own block and share your experience. Use only software that respects your rights as the user Together we are strong. Constantly remind the support of your software vendors that you demand a correction. Remember: it's not harrassment if it's done in defense. Never give up. Never surrender.