Don't grab mouse _while zooming_

[thechef]

Currently when I zoom in with Enhanced Zoom exactly while zooming in (or out) the mouse is stuck, until it's zoomed in. I don't think that this should be the case, it's totally confusing and I have additional effort to re-center the mouse on the desk (the real mouse on the real desk)

[Deciare]

I don't understand this limitation, either. With Beryl's inputzoom, the mouse cursor could be moved at any time, even in mid-zoom-animation. The first couple of times I tried ezoom, memories of using ball mice flooded into my mind. :p I even checked the underside of the mouse to ensure that nothing had become caught between the sensor and the mousing surface.

[some-guy]

If you disable Sync mouse this is not the case :D

[Deciare]

But then the zoomed screen area doesn't follow the mouse if the sync option is disabled. Beryl's inputzoom let the zoomed area follow the mouse and didn't force the cursor to stay centred during the zooming animation.

[some-guy]

I personally prefer pushing the edges to make the zoomed area move :D

[Deciare]

The main attraction of ezoom for me is that it's interactive, which requires the sort of fake input redirection that syncing the mouse provides.

[Kristian]

"But then the zoomed screen area doesn't follow the mouse if the sync option is disabled. Beryl's inputzoom let the zoomed area follow the mouse and didn't force the cursor to stay centred during the zooming animation."

This is not the case.

inputzoom in beryl forced the mouse to stay at the precise location it would be at unzoomed. Granted, this is not centered, but it is in many ways even worse, as it is less predictable.

As for the movement, you want mouse panning.

The general issue is sync mouse, though. In beryl, the inputzoom was only affected by the mouse, meaning that the syncing was one-way: Sync from mouse to zoom. However, eZoom can also do things like track focus, which means it has to be able to warp the mouse when the zoom area moves. This, in turn, means that when you animate your zooming in, it sets a "target zoom/translate", and during the move, it has to make sure that the mouse is at the correct place. Beyond that, it does actually allow you to move the mouse and it does adjust for this during the zoom, the problem is that it generally warps it right back, negating the effect.

To sum this up: Beryl inputzoom and eZoom are very different in how they treat syncing the mouse and zoom area.

You are welcome to file an enhancement request of this on the issue tracker. I do believe this can be solved through cleverness, but it's not too obvious right now.

[Kristian]

Oh, and a minor minor nitpicking detail: eZoom never ever grabs the mouse. It just warps it. Grabbing it would mean you couldn't click during the zoom, and that you can.