Multiple GUI widget highlights
With the recent GUI rewrite, I've noticed that multiple GUI widgets get highlighted simultaneously. One seems to follow the current keyboard selection, and one that follows where the mouse pointer is, both moving independently. This is most easily seen on the main menu where New Game is highlighted for the keyboard selection but other menu entries will also highlight as the mouse moves over them. This creates visual confusion since it's not immediately obvious which will be activated by the keyboard, and you have two widgets trying to get your attention visually.
The typical way I've seen GUIs handle simultaneous mouse and keyboard input is to only have a single highlighted selection, and either:
- let the keyboard change the highlighted selection, but have the selection snap to the mouse when it actively moves over a selectable widget, or
- don't have the highlight follow the mouse until it clicks down on a selectable widget
The latter is how desktop GUIs work[1], but the former would make the mouse input feel more active and responsive.
[1] Actually desktop GUIs tend to have multiple 'highlights': a light outline on widgets following the mouse, and a strong one indicating keyboard focus. However OpenMW only has a strong highlight, and having two strong highlights simultaneously creates this issue.
(RM-4132 from redmine: created on 2017-09-30 by Chris Robinson, )