Quick thought - cheaper transparency

[Michael ROGERS <M Rogers cs ucl ac uk>]

Sorry if this is OT, I know this list is not intended for feature requests.

But...:)

Here's my idea for "cheaper" transparent terminals - the client sets a
property on its top-level window indicating that it would like the window to
be transparent (after checking that the WM supports this part of the spec). It
sets the window background to ParentRelative (ie transparent). The window
manager responds to the hint by setting the background of its frame window to
ParentRelative. Result - the client window gets a pseudo-transparent
background like the ones currently provided by gnome-terminal, eterm etc,
without having to mess around with pixmaps. Of course, if the client wants to
shade or colour the background it will have to use pixmaps.

Or, if the window manager supports this part of the spec it sets all frame
window backgrounds to ParentRelative, and the app just has to check if the
feature is supported before using it.

I'll put together a proper definition of this hint for inclusion in the spec 
if nobody objects/finds obvious technical flaws/etc.

Michael