Stop other applications popping up in front of current application?

[Head_Unit]

Is this possible? Or simply inherent in the OS? (This is not just a Mac question, same annoyance in Windows).

Example:
I'm typing in a forum. Click the W to open Word or iTunes or whatever in the background. Go back to Safari. BOOM, suddenly Word/iTunes is in front of my and my typing is cut off. Grr, click back to Safari. BOOM again, suddenly Word is uselessly opening "Document 1" (can't I prevent that also?) and messing up my typing.

Is it not possible to somehow change priorities so that background applications will NOT pop in front of the current application? It drives me NUTS, I just HATE IT!

Or is it hopeless, just take valium or go to a local "dispensary" and get over it?

(P.S. The reason I do this is because some stuff takes a while to open, so I am kind of pre-opening it. Please don't question why, it's just my own possibly silly habit, I just want to know if I can accommodate the machines to not annoy me).

 

[Emptee]

Not possible, as soon as an application opens its what's selected as you can tell in the toolbar at the top so it will instantly be in the front. What I do the kind of counter act this issue as well since I get aggravated from that sometimes. I use spaces. If I need to open a word file I'll stop typing and switch spaces and then switch back that way if I need to go back to look at word I'll just switch between the 2 or 3 spaces and every thing is still organized.

I know this doesn't help solve your issue but it's the only way I can think of to sort of help counter act that... sorta hahah wish I could help out more.

 

[Head_Unit]

Ah, I was afraid of that. By my logic, if I start to open iTunes, it is the foreground application. But if I then switch back to Safari or whatever, THAT should now be the foreground application. I guess you're saying that something in the process of opening is really always the foreground application.

I'm not familiar with Spaces but read up on it a bit. Quite interesting, so maybe I'll experiment with that. Could be used to keep newbies from bumping into other applications by accident so easily.

 

[toMACsh]

Yep. Spaces helps you manage clutter on your screen. I think it's great!

 

[Mathesar]

Hi I have the same issue. Just ****** me off every day!!

I've read at Apple support communities that when I launch an app, it launches it, then activates it.
So the trick would be to just launch the app without activating it.

Would there be some sort of terminal command(s) with "default" in it to wipe out this stupid "awesome feature" (without having to use Sapces, which I don't like much)?

Pleaaaase?

 

[toMACsh]

That would be a trick all right. I think the only solution is to get a cup of coffee, or use the restroom.

 

[chillywilly2]

When applications pop up in front of me while I'm attempting to type something I want to scream. This is the most annoying "feature" that OS X has. I wish there was a way to turn this off. I can't believe Steve Jobs wanted it this way.

 

[toMACsh]

I'm pretty sure this happens to me at work too. It's not just OS X.