[lorenzo]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking for some help in restoring the transparency of the menubar in Leopard!
Problem is, some weeks ago I disabled it (but cant remember how! and now I'd want it back.
I had hoped updating to 10.5.2 would fix the issue, but it didn't, not even checking the translucent menubar button in the sys prefs...

I tried to reverse-apply a patch I've found on the net (hoping that was what I had done... ;-)
it's the
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 1

only changed the 1 with 0 at the end (as suggested to restore). Rebooted, but nothing happened.

I have no clue whatsoever...
Anybody willing to help a masochistic translucent loving user?

Thanks!

Lory

[lorenzo]

I've found out that my pull down menus are more solid now (like i'd say 95%)
is this also update related?
even more confused

[megasad]

Try this:

sudo defaults delete /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables'

Then reboot your Mac and try the Desktop preference pane again. That worked for me. And yes, the less-transparent menus are a feature of 10.5.2.

[lorenzo]

It did the trick!!!
Thanks a lot!
(it's still not as transparent as I'd love, but it is indeed, and checking "translucent" in menuprefs works).

Very happy again! ;-)

Lory

[wataru]

Originally Posted by lorenzo 

I've found out that my pull down menus are more solid now (like i'd say 95%)

Menus were changed to be less transparent in 10.5.2.

What really annoys the crap about this whole menu bar transparency issue is that if we think back back to Mac OS X Tiger, there was a ShapeShifter theme called Crystal Clear that would give you menu bar transparency, with no GUI problems, no mouse stuttering, and no system performance loss. Now Apple claims that it can be done by having certain graphics cards... ridiculous.


BTW: After running 10.5.2, the Leopard Graphics update, and the above restore transparency option, I still cannot get my iMac G5's menu bar to be transparent.

[JKT]

Point of order - it is translucency (diffuse opacity), not transparency (completely see through). You might like the former, but the latter would be 100% awful.

[voicebox]

Hi there,
The translucent menu bar looks great, but would anyone know how to make the drop down menus similarly translucent?
And sadly when I now place the dock on the left hand side of the desk top it looks pretty awful - grim in fact!
Would anyone know if the dock can be made transparent, like the 'Clear Dock' app used to do for the 'Tiger/Panther' docks?
Thanks!
voicebox

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Andrej 

What really annoys the crap about this whole menu bar transparency issue is that if we think back back to Mac OS X Tiger, there was a ShapeShifter theme called Crystal Clear that would give you menu bar transparency, with no GUI problems, no mouse stuttering, and no system performance loss. Now Apple claims that it can be done by having certain graphics cards... ridiculous.

Look more closely. It is not just transparent — it applies a gradient transparency and a blur in an attempt to make sure the menubar is readable. I believe (somebody can correct me if they have a more definite memory) it was originally going to just be transparency and it originally worked on all systems, but there were too many situations where the menus were hard to read.

That's all right, I'll just go back to Crystal Clear: Musings from Mars � Download


Edit: Well, so much for that, now the site doesn't load!

Edit 2: Now it does.



Wait, now I'm really confused.

None of it is working. CrystalClear Interface installs, but does nothing (have no way to use it or even access it), and I can't install the other stuff.

How could the developer even promote this software to work with 10.5? I know that there is a warning about APIs in Leopard for 10.5, but how could he have gotten it to work?