I run a Linux/GNOME laptop where the focus follows the mouse, and I have vim's mousefocus feature turned on, so the selected viewport follows the mouse, too. But when I try to switch viewports using Ctrl+W j or Ctrl+W k (AKA, in vim help, CTRL-W_j or CTRL-W_k), the active viewport stays as whichever one the mouse is over. [UPDATE: I've looked at this issue more carefully, and what actually happens is that the mouse cursor jumps to the centre of vim—not the centre of what vim calls a 'window', but what the window manager calls a window. And then whatever vim 'window' is under the cursor gets the focus.]
The thing is, this is a new problem. I have a .vimrc file that's evolved since the 1990s, through dozens of machines on multiple platforms, and I don't remember having to deal with this issue before. Unfortunately, I don't have my old laptop to compare it with, and for various reasons, I made do without my .vimrc file on my new laptop until today. But other than it being an updated laptop, running a newer version of Linux Mint (Cinnamon) and a newer version of vim, and loading (seemingly unrelated) extensions via a plug-in manager, it's essentially the same setup I've had for years. (I have set mouse=a, FWIW, which again is what it's been set to since before the turn of the century.)
I think what happened on my previous laptops is that the mouse followed the active viewport in vim, if I used Ctrl+W j or Ctrl+W k to change it. I've been looking for a plugin or setting to make it do that again, but I can't find it. So perhaps this behaviour has changed between version 7.3 and 8.0?
Any ideas how to fix this?
<C-w>ncreates a new window, rather than move. That said, this sounds like the feature working "as intended" (i.e., the focus stays with the mouse pointer). Disabling'mousefocus'is probably the best bet. Settingmouse=awill still alllow you to click if need bemousefocusturned off one of the most frustrating things about the defaults. Nearly 30 years of X-windows/GNOME got me really used to just moving the mouse and typing, not needing the extra click, yet still being able to Alt+Tab between windows when the mouse was less convenient. Vim always worked the same way; when I changed viewports with Ctrl+W j/k, it either moved the mouse for me, or it ignoredmousefocusuntil I moved the mouse again. I can't remember exactly, but it worked for me since I retired my Windows '98 laptop.vim-windowstag, aswindowis the standard Vim terminology forviewport. Havingviewportas a tag synonym forvim-windowsmight be a good idea, but I suspect thatmousefocusis a bit narrow for a new tag. Either way, I think asking a question on the meta site is probably a better place for such requests. (As in, it's more likely to elicit a response/results there).:help mousefstates:When changing the window layout or window focus in another way, the mouse pointer is moved to the window with keyboard focusbut for me, when switching windows with the keyboard, the mouse pointer stays where it is. Possibly worth raising an issue on the Vim github repository about this issue?