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Transparent GeoBars
Added by geKow, last edited by geKow on Mar 05, 2007
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Since the release 4.11 it is possible to make Geobars become transparent, so the icons are free floating above the background, looking like this:

You may have noticed the new setting
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo!GeoShell\Services\Plugins!GeoBar (X) Transparent Color

This determines ''one'' color wich is completely cut off, erased, invisible, so the bar will become 100% transparent where this colour appears. The setting for that colour changed through the releases:

  • R 4.11 the setting was Hex BB,GG,RR
  • R 4.11.1 beta 1 the setting is Hex RR,GG,BB
  • R 4.11.1 beta 2 the setting is RGB RRR,GGG,BBB (will stay that way from now on!)

Now you have two possibilities:

  • You go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo\GeoShell\ShellUI\Bar Colors
    and switch all Background, Selected, Highlight, Lowlight, High Edge, Low Edge and so on colours to the same value as you set the bars transparent colour
    or
  • You use a one colour skin on the bar you want to be transparent. ''(Thats the way the bar on the picture was done)''

For this skin the transparent colour should be 129,129,129 but it is set to 130,130,130 to make the skin become visible. The little light grey box at the right edge of the bar is meant as a minimal gripper, you will see later why that could be important.

Other things to mention:

  • The general setting
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo!GeoShell\ShellUI\Use Alpha Blending
    must be turned on (to 1)
  • The individual bars setting:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo!GeoShell\Services\Plugins\GeoBar (X) Fade This Bar
    must be set on (to 1)
  • If I say ''cut away'', I mean ''cut away''! The transparent parts of the bar are not existent for windows, that means hover over them or clicking them has no effect. So if you set the whole bar to transparent, you won't see the GeoBarMenu anymore nor would you be able to move the bar.
  • according to that it could be difficult to use the bar fading feature, because the bar won't fade until you hit an icon. So it might be better to set "Alpha Blend" and "Alpha Blend when MouseOver" to the maximum value (0x0FF = 255) but that is a matter of personal taste.
  • the use of hidden bars (edge or gripper) could be tricky with transparent bars. I wouldn't recommend it.
  • you should set
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo\GeoShell\ShellUI\Bar Shadows
    to off (0)becuase even a invisible bar draws a shadow. That won't matter if your transparent bar is at the bottom of your screen, but otherwise you will see the shadow without a bar
  • You should not use "magic pink" (255,0,255) as transparent color, because GeoShell will cut away that too but also the icons and text on it.
  • You should not use very light or intense colors as transparent colour, because of the antialising features of your OS you will get a coloured glare especially around text.

have fun
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You can download that example skin here: keygrey.zip

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