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Window Navigation


Moving the focus among windows using the keyboard is called window navigation. Because applications should not warp the mouse pointer, a window manager need not support window navigation when the focus policy is in pointer mode. Window managers must support window navigation when the focus policy is in explicit mode.

The window navigation model can be divided into two levels:

A window family consists of a single primary window and all of its associated secondary windows. A window manager must support moving the keyboard focus among windows in a window family using the key. A window manager can support moving the keyboard focus in the opposite direction from using the key.

Moving the focus between window families must be done using and . should move the focus among the windows in the opposite direction from . If there is no icon box, and must move among the icons as well as the windows. When focus moves into a window family, the focus should go to the window in the window family that last had the focus. If no window in the family has ever had the focus, it should go to the most recently opened secondary window.