Comments on: Transparency

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:06:56 +0000

I’m not sure exactly what you mean by tranparency in guis, but if you mean windows like the terminal in the SS linked above… I’ve spent a fair amount of time in games where UI windows can be made partially or fully transparent, and I find it useful at times. Thinking only briefly about it, there seem to be two situations where I use window transparency: 1) when there’s something I want to look at but never interact with, like a clock or a map, I can keep it behind a partially transparent window and save a little screen space, and 2) when I just don’t have enough screen space to look at all the windows I need to at once, I can make some of them partially transparent temporarily.

Neither of these necessarily seems to apply in a situation where screen space is plentiful, such as with virtual desktops.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 02:40:50 +0000

I have to admit, I don’t like that transparent terminal. It just makes it harder to read the text. Yes, someone walking by can’t tell you’re using a terminal, but I don’t care about that. I suppose it’s because I use terminals all day every day for work, so I prefer them to be easy on the eyes.

As for the “fade away” thing, if they fade all the way away, then they might as well not be there at all, and if they fade partly, they’re distracting to me. I like to organize my programs spatially, so I use multiple desktops in a 3×3 grid. That way, I know where I am, and can get to any program I want with at most three keystrokes. Works quite well.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 01:21:38 +0000

re: daniel

http://applegoddess.org/terminal.jpg

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 01:17:22 +0000

well, if you’re a Mac OS X user, you have all the transparency in everything from Microsoft Word to Terminal.app and chat clients like Colloquy and X-Chat Aqua.

Its extremely simple(r) when all the stuff you don’t need fades away and floats around, there if you need it, but not distracting. Equally as useful is using the Terminal with a translucent window and text, I can’t name any particular reason why though…

Basically, I suppose I like them because they’re not obtrusive and all “LOOK AT ME!”, the opposite of what you’re saying.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 18:48:18 +0000

I’m assuming you’re refering to shadows in drop menus. I agree it’s kinda nice, but not useful. It’s pure eye candy. As for terminal backgrounds, I’ve never seen a “transparent” terminal that was readable, so I’m not counting that as useful.

By: Giorgio

Giorgio — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 18:35:37 +0000

Well, the only things I can imagine are drop menus and terminal background