To be most productive with Sloop, you need to fine-tune Sloop to suit your needs. The first part of this FAQ contains some suggestions on how to do that. If you are having problems with Sloop, the second part of this FAQ contains some troubleshooting suggestions.
Productivity strategies
Sloop is a powerful window navigation tool. I hope it helps to enhance your daily productivity. It could also change the way you think about window navigation as well as the way you use your mouse.
In the first few days of using Sloop, you could find certain situations frustrating. The most common frustration is unintentional switching. This problem tends to go away as you get more accustomed to Sloop. But there are also several preferences that can make the problem occur less frequently. (You can find more information on each preference in the other help topics.)
•If you find yourself accidentally moving the mouse outside of the frontmost window's boundaries, you can widen the "window fringe". Sloop ignores an area of variable width on the fringes of the frontmost window.
•If you accidentally move the mouse somewhere but move it right back and Sloop still switches, you might try slowing down Sloop's speed using the speed control in the main preferences dialog box.
•If you find yourself opening or switching to an application that has no windows, only to be immediately switched back out of it, turn off the "windowless switch" option in the main preferences dialog box.
•If you are working with a very small window and it's hard to keep the mouse within this window, turn on the "remain in islands" option in the main preferences dialog box.
•If the application you are working with simply becomes too frustrating to use with Sloop, you can try excluding it from some or all Sloop functionality using the application preferences dialog box. I would recommend that you first try adding the application to the "Don't switch from these" list and then, if that still doesn't help, adding it to the "Don't switch within these" list.
•If you find that you always switch to the Finder whenever the mouse is over the background desktop, be sure that the "ignore dektop" option is on. (This option is on by default.)
•If, despite these things, you still accidentally switch from time to time, remember that you can hold down the command key to prevent Sloop from switching.
Finally, one additional note: Sloop also works very nicely when coupled with other window or application navigation utilities. Other utilities, such as those that add pop-up menus or hotkeys for switching, can help you to select windows or applications that are completely obscured by other windows. For optimal productivity, I would recommend coupling Sloop with one of these utilities. (For instance, in addition to Sloop, I use a popup menu for application switching so that I don't have to go up to the application menu.)
Troubleshooting
Why doesn't Sloop switch out of the Sloop Rudder?
When you first install Sloop, the Sloop Rudder is automatically added to the "Don't switch from these" list in the application preferences. This is done to make the Rudder easier to use for first time Sloop users. If you want to change this, just remove Sloop Rudder from that list. See the topics "Application list and Don't Switch menu" and "Remove" for details.
Why doesn't Sloop work very well with Malph or DragThing?
For Sloop to work well with Malph and/or DragThing, you should add them to the "Don't switch to these" list in the application preferences dialog box.
Why does Sloop sometimes focus when a menu is down?
You most likely have an extension called "MenuTasking Enabler" installed. Sloop is not currently compatible with MenuTasking Enabler (focusing will occur “under” menus).
Sloop doesn't focus windows in my favorite application.
Be sure to check the "Don't switch within these" list in the application preferences to be sure you haven't added your favorite application to this list. Sloop won't focus windows in applications on that list. Also be sure the "Focus windows" checkbox is checked in the main preferences dialog.
Sloop isn't switching out of an application.
Be sure to check the "Don't switch from these" list in the application preferences to be sure you haven't added this application to this list. Sloop won't switch out of applications on that list. Also be sure the "Focus applications" checkbox is checked in the main preferences dialog. If the application has no open document windows and you want it to switch, be sure to check the "Windowless switch" checkbox in the main preferences dialog.
Sloop isn't switching to an application.
Be sure to check the "Don't switch to these" list in the application preferences to be sure you haven't added this application to the list. Sloop won't switch to applications on that list. Also be sure the "Focus applications" checkbox is checked in the main preferences dialog.
Sloop isn't switching at all.
Is Balloon Help on? Sloop disables itself when you turn on Balloon Help so that you don't have difficulty reading the balloons. Also, make sure you put the Sloop Sail in the Extensions Folder of your System Folder and restarted your computer. And make sure the "Sloop On" radio button is selected.
Sloop is slowing down my computer
Make sure the Sloop speed is not set too fast. The faster Sloop goes, the more processor time it uses. At very fast speeds, it can cause a performance hit on your computer. So you might try turning down the speed a bit. This, unfortunately, is an unavoidable trade-off.
Sometimes there are abnormally long delays when switching
Sloop tries to be as polite as possible in its processor usage. Thus, if there is another application that is hogging tons of processor time, Sloop won't get a chance to track the mouse. Certain web browsers are known to be unusually impolite and slow in their usage of the Mac's processor.
Sloop isn't switching out of some particular window
Some windows and dialogs on the Mac are "modal". You can't switch out of these windows, even without using Sloop. So, before reporting this problem to me (see below), make sure that you can usually switch out of these windows by clicking the mouse.
I'm having problems with the Rudder. What should I do?
The first thing to try is increasing the Rudder's memory partition a bit. You could also try throwing out the Sloop Preferences file. If that doesn't work, or even if it does, please let me know about the problem.
I've done what you said and Sloop still isn't working correctly!
I have tried to test Sloop with as many applications as possible. But I can't test everything and there may be some applications that don't behave properly with Sloop. Please tell me about this by sending email to <support@quadratic.com> and I will do my best to fix it. In the meantime, you can disable Sloop within any particular application by adding that application to the "Don't switch within" list.
Known problems
Here are some known or suspected problems with Sloop. I hope to fix these problems in future versions but if you are having problems with Sloop you may want to check this list to see if there’s an answer.
• If you are using an application such as BBEdit Lite that has PopupFuncs installed, Sloop won’t switch between its windows. Note that the full version of BBEdit has built-in PopupFuncs capabilities and Sloop works great with that.
• I have had reports of a conflict with ChurchWindows, a window modification extension similar to Kaleidoscope. If Sloop won’t recognize windows and you have ChurchWindows installed, that may be the reason.
• I have one report that Sloop does not switch windows in Symantec ACT. If you have noticed this and would like to help me fix it, please contact me and leave a valid email address.
• There may be a conflict with a program called TabMania.
• CPU Doubler “doubles” the CPU by cutting off time alotted to background-only applications. Since the Sloop Sail is a background-only application, CPU Doubler effectively disables Sloop by making it ridiculously slow. As far as I can tell, there is nothing I can do about this.
• On some machines the transparent fringe display when moving the “fringe width” slider in the main preferences window does not show up. I have not yet determined what configurations cause this so if it’s happening to you, please let me know. I need all the info I can get on this in order to fix it.
• Most of the reports I get have to do with Sloop not switching windows in particular applications that, internally, use unusual floating window or window management strategies. There is special code in Sloop to handle most of these unusual situations. These problems can be very easily fixed once I know about them. (In most cases I don’t even have to recompile Sloop). Therefore, please don’t hesitate to contact me if Sloop won’t switch windows in your favorite application.
