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titaniumbones

Member

Registered: 2013-12-20

Posts: 52

"always on top" in fullscreen mode; disable switching away

Hi,

I am trying to write a mode for emacs that will keep out as many distractions as possible.  When activated, I can't switch away from the file I'm working on.

Unfortunately, I can *easily* switch away from my fullscreen Emacs to my webbrowser or email program, and Gnome notifications appear on my screen on top of the Emacs window.

Is there a way for me to push a fullscreen Emacs window (what Emacs users call a frame) to the top of the windowing stack and DISABLE SWITCHING AWAY FROM IT, while also stopping other windows from poppint above it in the stack?  I'm using Gnome right now, so something gnome-specific would be great, as would any generic solution for X.  There is an "always on top" option for windows in gnome (I am using the default window manager, whatever it is now -- metacity?  compiz? I don't even know anymore!), but it is disabled for fullscreen windows.  that makes sense, normally, but I would like to suspend some of the computer's functionality when I'm writing. 

Also:  perhaps this deserves its own thread, but it would be nice if notification windows didn't overlay themselves on top of the window that I make this way.

Thank you!

Matt

Chazza

Wiki Maintainer

Registered: 2013-06-02

Posts: 506

Re: "always on top" in fullscreen mode; disable switching away

Hi,
You say you're using gnome so the default window manager for that would be mutter. The gnome notifications can be turned off from

gnome-control-center

  I don't know if that's an acceptable solution for you. As for disabling switching to other windows, I've had look in

dconf-editor

org --> gnome --> desktop --> wm --> preferences but I don't think I can much that's relevant there. Would disabling raise-on-click deliver the desired behaviour? Otherwise, you could try seeing whether there is an extension at https://extensions.gnome.org/.

Hope you find what you're looking for

Last edited by Chazza (2014-03-15 11:47:37)

titaniumbones

Member

Registered: 2013-12-20

Posts: 52

Re: "always on top" in fullscreen mode; disable switching away

apologizing for bad karma today -- sorry not to have responded to this. I round it difficult to navigate dconf-editor and never found a satisfactory solution to this; I htink the best fix would be to have a dedicated machine for writing...