Pop ups are difficult to use with "focus follows mouse"

In my desktop I have the window focus following the mouse. Many AWN applets pop up a little window that looks like a cartoon speech bubble. If I happen to have a window open below the popup, I cannot move the mouse from the applet icon to the popup without crossing over that window. The applet then looses focus and closes the popup. It would be good if there were some delay, i.e. if the popup would stay open a little longer. Then it should be possible to reach it without loosing focus.