I like having focus prevention set to high, so that I don't have some stupid auto-launched app steal my typing in the middle of something else. Unfortunately, Unity keeps focus on the right window while raising the new one. A number of times, this has caused me to close an application by accident that had control of the menu bar, even though it was underneath the new window. Is there a way to prevent raise without focus?
Unity – Resolving Window Focus Confusion
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Related Solutions
The setting is in CompizConfig > General > Focus & Raise Behavior as so documented. The Window Matching rules are quite important.
How about changing Unity decoration shadow for active window. This just example for Ambiance theme (same for Radiance).
Change directory for easy tests
cd /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/Change decoration (example: blue color)
sudo nano gtk-3.0/apps/unity.cssOriginal black active shadow
UnityDecoration { ... -UnityDecoration-active-shadow-color: rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.75); -UnityDecoration-active-shadow-radius: 30px; -UnityDecoration-inactive-shadow-color: rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.3); -UnityDecoration-inactive-shadow-radius: 25px; ... }Now blue active shadow
UnityDecoration { ... -UnityDecoration-active-shadow-color: rgba (0, 0, 255, 0.75); -UnityDecoration-active-shadow-radius: 30px; -UnityDecoration-inactive-shadow-color: rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.3); -UnityDecoration-inactive-shadow-radius: 25px; ... }You may change size(radius) and transparency too.
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As Serg commented below, the above method could be fine for limited number of themes as it needs manual change for each theme. Here is a better way using Compiz.
Install Compiz manager
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-managerRun it
ccsm, go Ubuntu Unity Plugin → Decorations tabCheck Override theme settings then change Active window shadow as you like.
Best Answer
I had the same problem and solved it by going into CCSM > General Options > Focus & Raise Behaviour. There, all I did was change the Focus Prevention Level to Low. Now, when I open an application via the Dash, it open up on top and has focus.