Apple has filed for a patent on a certain use of translucent windows,
Well, from my point of view, this is bad news, because the concept is fairly simple, and one that I would hate to see be covered by a patent. Honestly, the idea in the patent is fairly clever: translucent windows that automatically adjust the opacity as information is updated. That is, “windows whose contents remain unchanged for a predetermined period of time become translucent” and become more translucent the longer they go without updates, to the point where once they reach a certain level of translucency, you can click through them as though they weren’t there.
Sounds pretty cool right? I mean, it’s not exactly earth shatteringly “new” ... but I think I can safely say I haven’t seen that implemented anywhere, although applets that mess with translucency are a dime a dozen. In fact, the video drivers that came with my graphics card have an applet which lets you choose to set windows transparent when you’re moving them, or automatically set them transparent when they are not in focus, etc …
Honestly, I’m not that big of a fan of translucent windows. More often than not they just make themselves, and any windows under them, more difficult to read (which I suppose is the reason for Apple’s patent on turning them translucent only if they don’t have new information in them). Honestly, I’d rather have windows similar to Windows XP’s balloon tool-tip’s behaviour: windows which show up ‘on top’ when they have new information, but without stealing keyboard focus, and fade away back to the background (or disappear entirely) if you don’t actually click on them.
In case you’re curious: I use currently use translucent windows in precisely two situations:
- My GeoShell bars, which are very thin, and float over the caption/status bar of normal applications. I like to be able to see through them to read the status bar, and they “fade in” when I mouse over them (become more opaque) so I can interact with them more easily.
- My console, which generally sits on the desktop and so the only thing behind it is my wallpaper, I just think it looks cool. [
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