I was wondering if there was a way to make all inactive windows transparent? Just thought it would look cool. If any one has an idea I would appreciate it.
I think that goes a little futher than what LS can achieve, doesn't it?
However, such may not be entirely impossible by programs such as WindowsBlinds or ShellWM. I have no idea if those have such implemented, though.
I wouldn't hold my breath, since I can think of a thousand nasty things what could happen. Probably Windows isn't well-suited for this at all.
I've already played with windows transparency using lsdynamic and rabdivwm... but I didn't thought about making inactive windows transparent. I should think about it.
Let's take a "rendez-vous" at the code section...
there was an app made by azathoth that did this, dont remember the name tho.
sryo: backtrans. not worth running unless you want a superslow system or to prank.
in fact all things that did this were slow for me.
i've tried a primitive similar thing like it w/ rabidvwm, too.
i blame windows. well maybe my video card deserves some, too.
yeah, that one! i remember it also applied transparency to the desktop window in explorer, it was a fun app ^^
there's also iblend, i think you can find that one in aqua-soft
hum... since I still haven't found a way to know if a window have or not the focus, I won't be able to do the trick...
But you could take a look at the "code" section, because I'm posting something nice IMHO :)
Assuming you make all windows transparent.
you could try to exclude the one that shows on a label "activetask"(focus window)
I dont know how would you use the label info or if its useful to make the exclusion and make that window not transparent.
Yeah, large transparent windows, especially stacked, will tend to slow down your machine. It has to do two multiplies and a divide per pixel for each transparent window, that will seriously suck if you don't have hardware acceleration, and may be slow even with it. Normally Windows doesn't even paint the windows underneath, so there's a huge difference.
RabidVWM's ^@ch^ is fairly close to "active windows' handle", though probably not perfect. All other windows are inactive.
@Rabidcow: I assume people talking about alpha transparency with regular windows have a good (not too old) graphic card...
About the ^@ch^ things I've missed some facts, I took a wrong way and gave up (I was a little tired and hury); I stood with my old problem "how to know if the active window have or not the focus) ?"
So, there should be a way even if there can be issues (for example when several windows have the same Class and Title; or if the vwm is hidden)
One more word: restoring a window's full opacity means setting its transparency level to 255. Then, ressources eating is the same as if the window was transparent. The
only way to do it in the right way is to destroy the window and open it again :(
to be continued...
Smurth:
AthlonXP 1800+@1.72GHz (~2100+), 512MB PC3200, Radeon 9600 XT (525/679); no slouch for desktop use.
Using third-party apps to use transparency on more than three windows at a time made it annoyingly stuttery. No better or worse on a PC w/ a TNT2 (otherwise close enough specs), just a little less CPU use and you can watch it draw bands as you move them instead of the whole thing at once. Anything over a transparent window becomes equally slowed.
MS is looking towards making full use of what modern video cards can do for the desktop in the next OS, but until '06/'07, we're stuck here in the space age :).
I've done it :)
Just some problems with some WindowClass...
Have to make some tests but it should be good after a quick lunch !
Yeah ! It's works !
With exclusion list...
It's been a hard time...
Check out the "code" section.