Root view can receive focus if there is no active editor.

This allows basic key bindings to work without an editor.

spec/atom/root-view-spec.coffee

@@ -33,6 +33,21 @@ describe "RootView", ->
         rootView = new RootView
         expect(rootView.activeEditor().buffer.url).toBeUndefined()
 
+  describe "focus", ->
+    it "can receive focus if there is no active editor, but otherwise hands off focus to the active editor", ->
+      rootView = new RootView(require.resolve 'fixtures')
+      rootView.attachToDom()
+      expect(rootView).toMatchSelector(':focus')
+
+      rootView.activeEditor() # lazily create an editor
+      expect(rootView).not.toMatchSelector(':focus')
+      expect(rootView.activeEditor().isFocused).toBeTruthy()
+
+      rootView.focus()
+      expect(rootView).not.toMatchSelector(':focus')
+      expect(rootView.activeEditor().isFocused).toBeTruthy()
+
+
   describe "split editor panes", ->
     editor1 = null
 

src/atom/root-view.coffee

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ CommandPanel = require 'command-panel'
 module.exports =
 class RootView extends View
   @content: ->
-    @div id: 'root-view', =>
+    @div id: 'root-view', tabindex: -1, =>
       @div id: 'panes', outlet: 'panes'
 
   editors: null
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ class RootView extends View
     @on 'toggle-file-finder', => @toggleFileFinder()
     @on 'show-console', -> window.showConsole()
 
+    @one 'attach', => @focus()
+    @on 'focus', (e) =>
+      if @editors.length
+        @activeEditor().focus()
+        false
+
     @commandPanel = new CommandPanel({rootView: this})
 
   createProject: (path) ->