Comment #36 on issue 4 by eg1...@gmail.com: Separate focus for tiled and floating layers http://code.google.com/p/xmonad/issues/detail?id=4 Why don't we split what ever variable inside xmonad that tracks focus into two, a "trueFocus" and a "tiledFocus", for example? One for use in layouts like max and tabbed that use focus to determine layout, and one for use in determining within XMonad where text entry goes and where to draw the active border and such. Change "trueFocus" everywhere you used to change "focus" and if you're changing "trueFocus" to a tiled window change "tiledFocus" too. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about the Xmonad source, nor really much about haskell in general, so disregard my idea if I'm totally off base.)