Re: true transparency

[Haukur Hreinsson <hawk gagarin is>]

Tom Gilbert wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 15 Jun 1999, Michael ROGERS wrote:
> 
> ->The window on top would get focus - with alpha support you wouldn't have the
> ->problem of the mouse having to be over the text that you would get with a
> ->shaped window.
> 
> But how would you know which window was on top if they were all
> see-thru???
> 
> ->>It would only lead to brainache!
> ->
> ->Only if you stacked up a load of transparent windows - so you wouldn't.
> 
> (!)
> 
> The hole point of the desktop metaphor is that you *can* stack up windows,
> without fear of confusion! And anyway, why would you want your windows
> transparent if you were going to *avoid* putting them on top of each
> other!

Look, aside from all these issues, fully transparent windows don't even
look cool. Obviously the true point of this kind of functionality would
be to create windows out of coloured glass, so to speak. That way, if a
window is covered by more windows, it appears less distinctly because
you're looking at it through more layers of semitransparent glass. The
topmost window is always the most distinct. The user can tell
instictively what window is topmost. The only problem is beating the X
server into submission (or switching to Berlin ;-> )