Xfce-dev Digest, Vol 4, Issue 2

[Jasper Huijsmans]

Op ma 08-03-2004, om 00:08 schreef Norman V. Bauer:
...
> >>One of the things I want to do (for my personal system) is change the 
> >>XFCE panel so that it can be transparent. Similar to OS X. What I really 
> >>want to know is if this is at all possible in C? And am I correct, XFCE 
> >>is written in C not C++?
> >>
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >X can't do true transparency, you'll have to 'fake' it. Try looking at
> >the code for the gnome panel. Basically you have to find the background
> >image (using the _XROOTPMAP_ID property on the X root window) and set
> >the background for the panel window accordingly.
> >
> >I'm not sure it will work, perhaps the plugins will need to be changed
> >as well.
> >
> >	Jasper
...
> >  
> >
> Thanks Jasper,
> 
> I noticed your name all over the comments in the source, so you are the 
> right person to ask this. If you could summerize it in a paragraph, why 
> can't X do it? I'm heading over to the Xfree86 CVS now.
> 

If I remember correctly, X uses just RGB for windows, so no alpha
channel to have transparency. 

The xserver project by Keith Packard on freedesktop.org is implementing
extensions that will allow lots of new things, including transparency.

	Jasper