Umm.. thanks to this logic I had to write an extension just so I could open firefox using a keystroke, because otherwise the browser did not receive focus..
But yeah, it has happened to me too, too often for it to be a problem. Especially the press the space bit.
I am not sure this is the right solution, however, but I cannot think of any solution right now.
Someone (in the comments) who has claimed to patch i3 may shed some light on what he did.