Window border transparency issue...

Transparent part outside edge of the screen...

Published on October 31, 2005 By Ronan H In WindowBlinds

For this example lets use the R.I.P. Halloween skin released by Stardock as the base for my query.

When the skin is maximised, the transparent part of the window border goes outside the visible area on my screen, hence the top of the min / max / close buttons, and the top of the little moon and cloud image is not visible as its outside the screen. If the window isnt maximised it looks fine. It seems to be happening on all windows that can be maximised. I have to say its a little bit frustrating seeing as the reason for using WB5 skins is to see the transparency effect...

Is anyone else experiencing this? If so id love some feedback, its the first issue ive had with Windowblinds EVER since i started using it years ago...

Thanks...

Ro

Comments (Page 2)

Ronan H

on Nov 14, 2005

@ Cavan1 - Thank you for your input, i understand a bit more clearly whats happening now i think...

However, and lets talk about me pesonally for now, a few weeks ago i DLd WB5, excited by the prospect of transparency. When i installed it i went directly to brewmans DogmaX skin as its a favourite i have been using for months. I loaded it up looking forward to the beautiful glassy transparent border https://www.wincustomize.com/Preview.aspx?Source=brewman/wb/4221.jpg as can be seen here. Thats fine in the preview, i was expecting the nice border to be visible all around the edge of my screen when the window was maximized, instead i find that i cant see the border at all as its off the screen. Hence i looked at the RIP skin and a few others to see if it was happening. When i found that it was, it prompted me to start this thread. If that is going to be the case with all of the skins then i have no interest in using WB5 currently for that reason alone. I havent even looked at any of the other features on WB5, but i suspect that as long as the window border thing is an issue im not going to want to use WB5, simple as that.

I still havent had any feedback from anyone else as to whether this causes some annoyance to them or not, im disappointed that i wont be able to see the skins as they should be. I would love other peoples opinions too. I know its not a WB issue as you have stated, as it originates in Windows, and thats a pity i think.

Please could some other users share their experience of this, im sure i cant be the only one who is disappointed by this, or does everyone else in the community not use maximised windows?

Thank you thus far Cavan1, scorpio and Neil for your input...

R

Cavan1

on Nov 14, 2005

Hey Ronan H try Arrow https://www.wincustomize.com/Skins.aspx?LibID=1&view=1&sortby=4&sortdir=DESC&p=1&advanced=0&searchtxt=arrow
Title bar is completely transparent so still have transparent title bar when maximized, minus that little bit. The side and bottom frames still disappear.
Your welcome for the input, in the future maybe thank Neil first as WB is his baby.

Don't give up on WB5 yet as more features are added and skinners start to use them you may not mind lossing border on max. window. Did you download update for dogma x, alpha blended logoff and shutdown dialogs, full screen blended mask when select logoff or shutdown, very cool, updated 11/14.
When a window is maxed you still have all the transparent borders on all dialog windows you open.
Not trying to change your mind just pointing out that the maxed window thing is a small loss compared to all that WB5 can and will at final release do.

Cavan1

on Nov 14, 2005

One more thing; I feel that as skinners get used to skinning for WB5 they will hopefully offset buttons and title bar art so it is not clipped off when window is maxed. Remember this is new to them aswell so there will be a learning curve.

Ronan H

on Nov 14, 2005

Hello again...

I think i may have been a bit hasty earlier in some stuff i said, im ultimately very hard to please and if the slightest thing is "wrong" (using the term very lightly) with something i make a rash decision and bail... When it comes to skins, i am a pain in the hole, DogmaX is the first skin in about 5 years that ive actually stuck with, followed from early releases and continually used on my desktop, which at this point is months now... I like everything about it (ignoring the current thread of course but thats not a skin issue) and its very seldom i like a skin enough to keep it for that long. When i started using WC years ago i found one cool skin which i cant remember the name of now and that was up there at the time, im just keen to find it again to see if its still cool! Anyway, i digress...

I was a bit harsh earlier, but thats just me, if it aint perfect i dont wanna know (unfortunately) and when it comes to skins im ruthless, i might download 20 skins in a night and have deleted them all within 5 minutes because i found one thing that i didnt like about them...

I understand that WB5 is still in its early days and you have definitely helped me to become un-hung-up o the border thing, there are a lot more features that i will miss out on if i sacrifice the build just for the borders...

Im a bit of an instant gratification type of person, hence my sudden rash decisions about things...

Anyway, i think im clear on the situation now, im off to find that ancient skin i used to use and to download WB5 again...

***mental note to self*** GET OVER IT!

Thanks man... Also i didnt realise that Neil was the WB guy, i hadnt thanked people in any particular order, just as i remembered them!

See ya round the boards...

Ro

j dott

on Nov 14, 2005

It seems to me that you could just use a program to make your windows not quite maximized, so that they still take up the full screen, but with the effects that you want. I'm not sure if WinFX can do this, but it doesn't work with WB5 yet anyway. Maybe someone has a program suggestion. I use ZMover Linkthat can do this, but I really use it for different reasons, and it would require you to set it up for each application. There must be something freeware that will allow you to do this. To test what I am talking about, just resize a window until it takes up the screen, yet retains the edge effects.

Ronan H

on Nov 16, 2005

Yeah im with you on all that stuff j dott, ill have a look round and see what i can find... Ta fo the info...

Ro

scorpio-logic

on Nov 16, 2005

WindowFX has this feature, but isn't really happy with WB5 yet. However, I have read that there is a new build in the works for WindowFX.

BTW, I have seen a lot of people refer to "WindowFX" as "WinFX". "WinFX" is a "next-generation set of managed APIs"http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/, supposedly coming in Vista, at least the last I read on that was 3 weeks ago. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/developers.mspx

The first few times I saw this reference, I thought that Stardock was supplying MS with some new toys, because I was already familiar with "Indigo" now known as Windows Communication Foundation. Anyway, just commenting...

Ronan H

on Nov 18, 2005

I use ZMover Linkthat can do this

Now THATS what im talking about! I have it sorted for now with zMover, can see all the lovely borders on DogmaX at last, wicked! Thanks a million for your help, its a wee bit cumbersome setting it up for each application but i spose that will eventually become less and less frequent as i get through them all...

All in all im liking it and im sure it will keep me all WB5'd up until the full fat release!

Transparent Ro

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