Hide cursor when entering text

You can use xbindkeys to map the buttons to text that will trigger KDE shortcuts. However, that may interfere with Firefox's recognition of the buttons. You can use mouse gestures instead of buttons if that is a concern. Also, you should probably commont on this feature request to use mouse buttons as KDE shortcuts.

I have this problem as well. I think it's related to the bug herein:

http://osdir.com/ml/blfs-support/2011-12/msg00059.html

The problem seems to be related to specific functionality in gtk 3.0, likely related to resizing the window or making the resize grip appear: I've gotten this behavior when I use Meta-Mouse2 to resize in Awesome. I've also seen it happening just in the course of regular use. Some things that might help:

1) You can begin closing random gtk windows. In my experience, the problem only reliably goes away when I close my last gnome terminal. I should really find a non-gtk terminal that pleases me.

2) Always run awesome with your windows in some layout rather than free. This will make the resize grip not show up accidentally.

Other than that, I think the best you can do is wait for someone to figure out the code path and fix this problem.