Feature request: `smart_dim_inactive [enable|disable]`

[42e6]

SYNOPSIS

smart_dim_inactive enable would conditionally show the dimming only when the MOD key is pressed.

BACKGROUND

Currently, dimming is always enabled:

• Pros: People use dimming as a way to identify the active window, without enabling borders: this looks nice, and makes more efficient use of pixels.
• Cons: Dimming makes dimmed windows less readable. Many times you know your active window but just want to have a quick peek to another window's content, and this dimming makes it less readable: so you end up focusing it just to read it.

SOLUTION

Turns out that always dimming windows is unnecessary, as we don't always need to be told where the active window is—we only need to be cold when we press MOD, which is the time when we use the navigation keys MOD + [LEFT | RIGHT | TOP | DOWN] to move the focus.

The smart_dim_inactive enable feature does exactly this:

• No dimming when you're normally interacting with your windows (MOD is not pressed). This is great, as you don't need to be told where the active window is, when you're already happily interacting with your window (you already know it!).
• Dimming comes when you press MOD, so you know where the focus is, only when you need to know it.