Winstep Forums :: View topic - Background transparency

Hey all,

Just got this, it is AMAZING, exactly what I was looking for. The ONE thing I can't figure out is how to make the background of the toolbar 100% opague so that you can NOT see the background behind it. I have the settings where they should be (ie. Colorize with custom color using Tint) but it is still pretty transparent. Can anyone help with this??

haha pretty close, it reminds me more of the apple dock!

The NextSTART taskbar btw. is at the bottom of that shot. Fits in very much with Win 10 as it is almost exactly the same, but much more powerful of course.

Ohhh, that thin one? That one is perfect- does that come with the paid version of the toolbar? I don't see it listed otherwise, unless its a separate download from somewhere?

Author:	voidedzim [ Mon Sep 10, 2018 5:40 am ]
Post subject:	Background transparency
Hey all, Just got this, it is AMAZING, exactly what I was looking for. The ONE thing I can't figure out is how to make the background of the toolbar 100% opague so that you can NOT see the background behind it. I have the settings where they should be (ie. Colorize with custom color using Tint) but it is still pretty transparent. Can anyone help with this??

Author:	nexter [ Mon Sep 10, 2018 12:12 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
voidedzim wrote: Hey all, Just got this, it is AMAZING, exactly what I was looking for. The ONE thing I can't figure out is how to make the background of the toolbar 100% opague so that you can NOT see the background behind it. I have the settings where they should be (ie. Colorize with custom color using Tint) but it is still pretty transparent. Can anyone help with this?? If the bitmaps of the theme are transparent or translucent, that is it, you can't make them opaque. There just is no way of doing that at all, sorry.

Author:	winstep [ Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
What Ric said... The problem is that the actual bitmap used in the theme is semi-transparent. Under Vista and Windows 7, semi-transparent backgrounds would be automatically blurred with AeroGlass (provided the option to blur semi-transparent backgrounds was enabled in the Winstep application, which was by default) so that wasn't a problem. Blurring the background of semi-transparent windows is not something that can be done without the OS and the Windows Desktop Composition Manager (DWM) being 'in' on it. With Windows 8 Microsoft decided to get rid of AeroGlass. It actually deprecated the API functions used to create blur regions so they would no longer work. First time I saw a relatively new and important feature in Windows be completely dropped like hot coals from one version to the other. Windows 10 brought blurring back with Acrylic, but there is a MAJOR problem with it in relation to what could be done before: unlike in Windows 7, you cannot blur irregular regions - it's a fully rectangular region or nothing. Furthermore, unless an area of the window is 100% solid color, it will get Acrylic applied to it - even if the area is FULLY transparent, which completely rule out rounded corners, etc... Both these limitations make Acrylic completely useless for using blur on Winstep themes. The only thing you can do is go to the theme folder, open the relevant bitmap in Photoshop, and change it so it is no longer semi-transparent.

Author:	voidedzim [ Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:16 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
Wow thanks for the great responses you guys! Thats interesting to learn about Aero, which makes sense because I have other custom themes on my PC that required a LOT of tweaking because of changes to the windows functionality. That is quite alright! Do you guys know if there is a theme that looks similar to the windows taskbar? I am trying to make it look closer to an extension of my current windows bar. I didn't see anything close in the free selection, but this is an amazing program and would not mind buying the full version if there is something like that.

Author:	winstep [ Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:25 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
Hmmmm... I would say Winstep Xtreme's default DarkTech theme is pretty close to the Windows 10 taskbar/overall look, no?

Winstep Forums http://forums.winstep.net/phpBB2/

Background transparency http://forums.winstep.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10806	Page 1 of 1

Author:	voidedzim [ Tue Sep 11, 2018 3:45 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
haha pretty close, it reminds me more of the apple dock!

Author:	winstep [ Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:17 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
Don't forget that Nexus is also compatible with themes for ALL third party docks. You have PLENTY to choose from.

Author:	nexter [ Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
voidedzim wrote: haha pretty close, it reminds me more of the apple dock! Yep, NeXus (at the top of that screen grab) in most themes tries to look like 'The Dark Side' aka MacOS. The NextSTART taskbar btw. is at the bottom of that shot. Fits in very much with Win 10 as it is almost exactly the same, but much more powerful of course.

Author:	voidedzim [ Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:24 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
nexter wrote: The NextSTART taskbar btw. is at the bottom of that shot. Fits in very much with Win 10 as it is almost exactly the same, but much more powerful of course. Ohhh, that thin one? That one is perfect- does that come with the paid version of the toolbar? I don't see it listed otherwise, unless its a separate download from somewhere?

Author:	winstep [ Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:31 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Background transparency
voidedzim wrote: Ohhh, that thin one? That one is perfect- does that come with the paid version of the toolbar? I don't see it listed otherwise, unless its a separate download from somewhere? You need to get Winstep Xtreme instead of Nexus Ultimate for that one. You should read THIS first.

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