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tfelder · Jul 9, 2006, 05:55 AM

I registered just to bring this up

Everything I read about transparent finder backgrounds, tells me it's not possible, and any screenshots I've seen are fakes - using part of your wallpaper as the finder background...

The thing is... I've seen it done, and I've HAD transparent finder backgrounds, and I'll tell you how;

About a year ago or so I was installing some system tweak apps (tinker tool and the like). I tried all of them, and noticed that the disc image one of them came in, had a transparent background! At the time, I also thought it was impossible, but suddenly I had this one, single, window with a completly transparent background... then I did some terminal work (I suck at this, had to do lots of googling too) and a good 20 minutes later I had the, originally hidden, file extracted from the disc image that, if one used it as the finder background, would make it transparent. I think it was a tiff file, and when I tried opening it in preview, preview came up with some error, so it was probably a purposfully screwed up file... I played with it some more, and after noticing that having 100% transparent finder backgrounds looked cool, but were otherwise extremly distracting and annoying, I opened it in photoshop and tried to make it 50% transparent. I must have tried about 100 different things, including exporting to other formats, when I finally placed the modified versions of the image as a finder background, all I got was a split second of transparency, and then black.... Back then, I left it alone, saved the transparent image to my external HD (died about two months ago), and went back to gray finder backgrounds... Now about a year later, having read countless threads about just this being completly impossible without hacking the finder itself, I thought I'd register here just to tell you this little tale - THERE IS HOPE! I'VE HAD IT ON MY OWN COMPUTER! I didn't make it, but the developer of that system app found a way and threw it in for fun... I'm off to try and find that image again, and will post it here as soon as/if I find it. If anyone here has it, or knows what app this was, please remind me! Now that I don't have it anymore, I want it!

Cheerio, Tfelder

red rocket · Jul 9, 2006, 07:42 AM

Strange. Personally, I'm not sure I see the value in this.

1. Setting an image as the Finder window background only works in icon view mode, not in column or even list.

2. Transparent windows are confusing, you never know what's in the foreground.

3. Making the whole window transparent looks more consistent, anyway.

On a tangent, I think Apple should fit the next revision of MacBooks with a secondary iSight camera in the back, that way the whole screen would seem transparent if one set the feed as the desktop picture.

siMac · Jul 9, 2006, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by red rocket

On a tangent, I think Apple should fit the next revision of MacBooks with a secondary iSight camera in the back, that way the whole screen would seem transparent if one set the feed as the desktop picture.

That would be cool, if only for about five minutes.

kelesh · Jul 13, 2006, 01:24 AM

Awesome idea! I would pay for that if it was possible. I hate clutter and like sleek/stylish interfaces that show more information.

Having the darkness of the pixel control how transparent it is might work. 100% transparency is only cool when the window is simple(Edit: the window border and controls/icons/text should be opaque). What about overlapping windows? For it not to be cheesey you would have to see a dimmed version of the lower windows. This might get nasty.

Eh, i didn't explain my thoughts very well, but I love the idea!

TheSpaz · Jul 20, 2006, 11:05 AM

You probably just encountered a strange glitch by using a corrupt tiff file. The OS probably couldn't draw the window correctly so it got an error and left it transparent. I don't think the developer meant for this mistake to happen. Maybe the tiff file got corrupt when he made the disk image and didn't notice.

Entertaining story though.

Syzygy · Jul 25, 2006, 01:54 AM

Yes, I agree with TheSpaz. I've had this happen once. I can't remember the exact circumstances but I do remember I decided it wasn't something that you can really cause to happen.

kat81 · Jul 25, 2006, 11:53 AM

Hmm. I think directly making only the BACKGROUND transparent, not the whole window, would be nifty.
Like with Adium, I have the msg window background transparent. (see screenshot)
I have a program called Afloat which makes any cocoa app window transparent/floating and such, but it is not good for that. I want only the background transparent, not the whole window!

Hrm. I bet there is a way!

Syzygy · Jul 25, 2006, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by kat81

Hmm. I think directly making only the BACKGROUND transparent, not the whole window, would be nifty.
Like with Adium, I have the msg window background transparent. (see screenshot)
I have a program called Afloat which makes any cocoa app window transparent/floating and such, but it is not good for that. I want only the background transparent, not the whole window!

Hrm. I bet there is a way!

Yes, it would especially be nice if any content was surrounded by non-transparent like your chat window.

But oh god what a freaky buddy list you have there

Velocity211 · Jul 25, 2006, 10:43 PM

Originally Posted by red rocket

On a tangent, I think Apple should fit the next revision of MacBooks with a secondary iSight camera in the back, that way the whole screen would seem transparent if one set the feed as the desktop picture.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fomBeHZl-...rbook%20screen

kat81 · Jul 27, 2006, 01:18 PM

Yes, it would especially be nice if any content was surrounded by non-transparent like your chat window.

But oh god what a freaky buddy list you have there

Ok...now why is my buddy list freaky?

SLiMeX · Jul 29, 2006, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by Velocity211

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fomBeHZl-...rbook%20screen

Uhhh my MacBook boots much faster than that one. Is that how slow they really should be booting? I have 22 second boots and 18 second restarts. Abnormal?

Syzygy · Jul 30, 2006, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by kat81

Ok...now why is my buddy list freaky?

Just with all the colors and giant text

fisherKing · Aug 5, 2006, 11:24 AM

this is pretty cool...

Syzygy · Aug 6, 2006, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by fisherKing

this is pretty cool...

Cool! I'm glad you pointed it out. Though Windowshade does the transparency and floating, I'm really interested in the drag-anywhere option. Though I foresee that having some pretty annoying bugs...

red rocket · Aug 6, 2006, 05:37 AM

GeekBind ( http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/14862 ) and MaxiMice ( http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/11439 ) both have drag-anywhere options. No bugs that I can see.

Hi I'm Ben · Aug 6, 2006, 10:37 AM

Other than the "oh look at my cool screen shot" factor I have a hard time understanding how Transparencies make anything easier to read, more productive, or useful.

fisherKing · Aug 6, 2006, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by Hi I'm Ben

Other than the "oh look at my cool screen shot" factor I have a hard time understanding how Transparencies make anything easier to read, more productive, or useful.

i love the translucent menus in my theme-of-choice (currently, roosta's v23).
but yeah, i tried semi-transparent windows in apps for about 15 seconds, then deleted the app.

cute, but not very useful...

JazzCatDRP · Aug 7, 2006, 08:04 PM

Kat, what is that Widget Launcher you have on your desktop? And also, how did you get your Adium buddy list to be 100% transparent? When I set my opacity all the way down, there's still a slight color to it.