WindowBlinds Bugs
Pink borders, titlebar button glows, and start menu
Thursday, February 28, 2008 by Electo | Discussion: WindowBlinds
Sorry if this is not the right place to post bugs, but I found several annoyances that I thought should be brought to attention. I don't believe it's my graphics card, since WindowBlinds says that it is supported. Sorry if I sound picky 
.
1. Magic pink borders
This is probably the worst bug. This only occurs when I have a skin with per-pixel titlebars (which are the ones I use most often). When I drag the window around the screen, the borders randomly turn magic pink (although not all that often, usually more often after I have just applied a skin), making for a scrappy looking screen, especially when I'm showing my computer off to friends
. The normal borders do return after I release the mouse button, however.
2. Titlebar Button Glows
Possibly Stardock intended this effect, but the glows of titlebar buttons always display on top of other windows. This looks sort of odd when you have a window that is on top of the buttons. Here's an example of what I mean:
3. Start Menu Transparency
Whenever the start menu has some sort of translucency at the bottom, the "Click Here to Begin" tooltip remains visible when I click on it, even after I move the mouse away. Oversized start buttons are also cut in half, in a sense; the enlarged part above the taskbar keeps the Mouse Over state, but the part inside the normal taskbar turns to the Mouse Down state as it should. This skin doesn't have an oversized taskbar, but you can easily see the tooltip bug:
.1. Magic pink borders
This is probably the worst bug. This only occurs when I have a skin with per-pixel titlebars (which are the ones I use most often). When I drag the window around the screen, the borders randomly turn magic pink (although not all that often, usually more often after I have just applied a skin), making for a scrappy looking screen, especially when I'm showing my computer off to friends
. The normal borders do return after I release the mouse button, however.
(Stardock Design's Aero Metal skin)
2. Titlebar Button Glows
Possibly Stardock intended this effect, but the glows of titlebar buttons always display on top of other windows. This looks sort of odd when you have a window that is on top of the buttons. Here's an example of what I mean:
(essorant's Jitter skin)
You can see that a ring forms around where the glow image is transparent. This happens with all glows. I can see how a "glow" should be like a glare and show in front of everything, but I think it looks better if it just has the same Z-Order as its own window instead.3. Start Menu Transparency
Whenever the start menu has some sort of translucency at the bottom, the "Click Here to Begin" tooltip remains visible when I click on it, even after I move the mouse away. Oversized start buttons are also cut in half, in a sense; the enlarged part above the taskbar keeps the Mouse Over state, but the part inside the normal taskbar turns to the Mouse Down state as it should. This skin doesn't have an oversized taskbar, but you can easily see the tooltip bug:
(MikeB314's Nuage Redux skin)
It is irritating to have that tooltip sit there whenever I click the start menu.
My System Information: Windows XP Pro, 1 GB RAM, 2.39 GHz AMD Athlon 64 Processor.
WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.02 (build 44 x86)
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
(HP f1905 flat panel monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800
Wblind.dll 2008/01/16 12:42:20
Wbsrv.dll 2008/01/14 17:02:10
Wbconfig.exe 2008/01/14 17:02:35
Wbload.exe 2007/09/27 17:47:44
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Wbui.dll 2007/11/06 10:13:05
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Screen.exe 2008/01/14 17:02:18
Sorry about the lengthy post. I always seem to talk too much.
If this could be brought to the attention of Stardock, that would be great. Also, please let me know if anyone else experiences the same problems.
Thank you,
Electo
It is irritating to have that tooltip sit there whenever I click the start menu.
My System Information: Windows XP Pro, 1 GB RAM, 2.39 GHz AMD Athlon 64 Processor.
WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.02 (build 44 x86)
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
(HP f1905 flat panel monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800
Wblind.dll 2008/01/16 12:42:20
Wbsrv.dll 2008/01/14 17:02:10
Wbconfig.exe 2008/01/14 17:02:35
Wbload.exe 2007/09/27 17:47:44
Wbhelp.dll 2007/08/27 11:54:07
Wbui.dll 2007/11/06 10:13:05
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Screen.exe 2008/01/14 17:02:18
Sorry about the lengthy post. I always seem to talk too much
.If this could be brought to the attention of Stardock, that would be great. Also, please let me know if anyone else experiences the same problems.
Thank you,
Electo
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Electo
Reply #22 Friday, February 29, 2008 7:21 PM
Heh. I was pretty dense there.
Back on topic... I also just noticed that Problem 1 also happens to push buttons, and it's even more noticeable. It probably happens with any control that has a glow effect.
Reply #22 Friday, February 29, 2008 7:21 PM
lol.. u posted an image.. a screenshot.. that is hosted on your site.. hello !!
Heh. I was pretty dense there.
Back on topic... I also just noticed that Problem 1 also happens to push buttons, and it's even more noticeable. It probably happens with any control that has a glow effect.
Neil Banfield
Reply #23 Friday, February 29, 2008 8:32 PM
Reply #23 Friday, February 29, 2008 8:32 PM
The pink frame issue is caused by a bug in the Microsoft intellipoint mouse drivers. They attempt to capture the contents of the window sometimes and incorrectly reset flags on the window. Preventing ipoint.exe from running should resolve this, or reverting back to an older version of ipoint before Microsoft added their task switching window feature.
Issue 3 is normal. It is basically a side effect of how start menu transparency works on XP.
Electo
Reply #24 Friday, February 29, 2008 9:50 PM
Reply #24 Friday, February 29, 2008 9:50 PM
Thank you, Neil. The pink borders are no longer a problem.
I don't use the task switching feature for the mouse, but will I lose any other features as a result of keeping ipoint.exe from running?
So it's not possible to do true per-pixel alpha on XP because of restrictions in the OS?
I don't use the task switching feature for the mouse, but will I lose any other features as a result of keeping ipoint.exe from running?
Issue 3 is normal. It is basically a side effect of how start menu transparency works on XP.
So it's not possible to do true per-pixel alpha on XP because of restrictions in the OS?
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Reply #21 Friday, February 29, 2008 7:10 PM