Transparent Windows

Saturday, November 18, 2006 by Jack Thelad | Discussion: WindowBlinds


Hi dudes,

I was wondering if its possible to have the backround in Explorer & some other apps as transparent ?
I have tried WinFX  for transparency, but that makes the whole application transparent (whereas I need the icons etc at full opacity).

I have also tried SkinStudio,  but as a novice, I only succeeded in messing up the whole colour of the window.

(Sorry to bring this up again, but the forum search I did didnt return any answers)

Thanks in advance !

Noob.
3 Reply 2 Referrals
Daiwa
Reply #1 Saturday, November 18, 2006 1:22 PM
I don't believe the technology has reached the point where selective interior portions of a window can be transparent/translucent & the remainder opaque. Since borders can be trans, and entire windows can be, I suspect it's only a matter of time, however.

I find using a lot of transparency to be visually awkward, personally - has the effect of "cluttering" the screen with stuff unrelated to your current activity. My preference would be a standard opaque active window with all inactive windows going semi-trans or gray-scale. But to each his own.

Jack Thelad
Reply #2 Saturday, November 18, 2006 1:49 PM

I understand the 'cluttering' effect, providing there are windows behind the active one, and the semi-trans on inactive windows could be good, except I normally have maximized windows.

I just liked the idea & thought it would be good to try.

Is it not just a case of the windows backround colour could be replaced by (for example) magic pink ? or a transparent .png ? or alpha blended ?

Damn I wish I was a developer

The possibilities........

Hey thanks for the reply !

Daiwa
Reply #3 Saturday, November 18, 2006 7:51 PM
Seems like I've heard or read of a program that will semi-trans inactive windows, but I don't recall the name. At the moment, there is not a way to designate an alternative image or color for most of the inactive 3D elements, the exceptions being the Titlebar and remaining borders and the Menubar.

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