Transparent buttons in Vista - Forum «Technical Support»

News

April 12, 2013
New Version 7.5.1 - Service Release

March 25, 2013
New Version 7.5 - Hotkeys for Popular System Commands, Put into Divider Tile at Startup, Improved Task Switcher in Windows 8

February 19, 2013
New Version 7.4.3 - Service Release

February 5, 2013
New Version 7.4.2 - Service Release

December 31, 2012
New Version 7.4.1 - Service Release

December 18, 2012
New Version 7.4 - Web Picture Sources for Background Wallpaper Slideshow, Classic Start Menu Integrated for Windows Vista/7/8

December 18, 2012
Actual Multiple Monitors has no Free version anymore

Actual Tools / Forums / Technical Support

Topic: «Transparent buttons in Vista , Buttons are not transparent in Vista Aero » on forum: Technical Support

John MacDonald
Registered user

Total messages: 24
Registration date: 15.11.2006

Created: 30.12.2006 16:24:09

Hello, thanks for a great product and a great forum! Good to see support like this.

I have recently installed v4.3 of Actual Title Buttons which now seems to be working with MS Vista. However, the buttons are not transparent, and with Vista Aero running, this means the buttons stand out because they are the only part of top of the window (including the standard Windows buttons) that are not transparent. Any fix for this?

Zaid Tariq
Registered user

Total messages: 4
Registration date: 02.01.2007

Created: 02.01.2007 18:07:15

I have the same problem too, and it is very serious, these buttons are ugly, they distroy the beauty of the transparent aero effect of windows vista smile:|

I will uninstall AWM because of this reason, even I know I'm trialing your 60 days software but I can't keep it any longer if there will be no quick fix to this smile:(

I also went to remove the buttons from showing, and depend on the right click menu on the task bar for each window .. but the settings button is the only one which remains .. then what's the use of removing them? I returned them back smile:cry:

The only way is to exclude them, but I'll lose all the benefits of AWM, therfore uninstalling it would be the same of excluding them in result.

Please fix this so that I will dare to keep and buy a licence .. thank you.

John MacDonald
Registered user

Total messages: 24
Registration date: 15.11.2006

Created: 03.01.2007 10:58:00

Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one finding this. I agree they are ugly, though for me it is not enough to stop using ATB. Still, I would like to see a 'fix' soon (technically I suppose this is not a bug, but a 'feature'). Perhaps there are difficulties with implementing the transparency effects in Vista with add-ons like these buttons? Support??

John MacDonald
Registered user

Total messages: 24
Registration date: 15.11.2006

Created: 03.01.2007 13:15:52

Hey, it seems to me that Actual Title Buttons are not integrated into the Vista windows at all! They have been made compatible with Windows Vista in a rather ad-hoc and sloppy manner. No wonder the transparency is not there. Basically the ATB program calculates where the relevant window is and then displays the ATB buttons in the right place on the desktop ON TOP of the relevant window. As far as Windows is concerned, they are not part of the relevant window at all. I have seen all kinds of evidence of this. Sometimes the ATB buttons are left on my desktop, unresponsive and with no associated window (in one notable case, because they are apparently not compatible with a program called Process Lasso - I had to turn them off for that program and then the problem went away). Another piece of evidence - if the window has a long title, it simply disappears under the ATB buttons and cannot be read. (If the buttons were properly integrated into the window, Windows would not be "blind" to their existence like this.) Another piece of evidence - sometimes a window will be underneath another window that is not responding, and the ATB buttons will still be displayed ON TOP of that unresponsive window - in other words, as far as Windows is concerned, they are not attached to the relevant window, but are a separate process. And finally, of course, the fact that the buttons don't display the proper transparency.

Let's hope this is a stopgap solution to properly integrating new buttons into windows on Windows Vista - perhaps until the programmers understand better how Vista works? Any chance of a response from the tech support people on this?

Zaid Tariq
Registered user

Total messages: 4
Registration date: 02.01.2007

Created: 03.01.2007 17:19:50

Maybe the programmer tested it with pre old beta versions of Vista like RC1 or such, which were not having Vista Aero implemented smile8)

or he could have a computer without strong VGA to display this effect, I know that because he chose it's color (buttons) as blue, which is the default theme for Vista basic skin, so he tried to make it look as much closer as possible smile:oops:

I have to admit that I may keep using AWM for a while, I started liking these buttons a little bit, although they are not pretty but they are well organized and they sit well on most of my windows smile:{}

Alexey Fadeyev
Administrator

Moderator

Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 05.01.2007 11:02:07

I'm answering mostly to you, John smile:)

Unfortunately, the way title buttons are implemented now is the only possible. smile:(

Microsoft has significantly changed their windows management subsystem in Vista but, as usual, hasn't delivered the proper documentation on it.

Honestly, you should be happy just of the fact the buttons are displayed in Aero mode because there was a great chance that we couldn't find a proper solution to show our buttons in Aero 3D due to above-mentioned changes.

It's possible that if we get more information on Vista internals in the future then we'll implement the displaying of title buttons more nifty and accurately; but now it's the best we can offer, sorry.

---
Have any questions? Mail to support@actualtools.com!

John MacDonald
Registered user

Total messages: 24
Registration date: 15.11.2006

Created: 08.01.2007 22:37:29

Thanks for replying! And sorry I used the word 'sloppy' in my original post - I realize it must be a pain in the neck trying to figure out Windows Vista smile:D

I figured the answer would be something like this. It's funny, though, because with release 4.2 of ATB it did work with Vista, albeit not very prettily, but the buttons were there, on the top of the Window where they should be, and I think that version was written without any implementation for Windows Vista at all, am I right? So it does support some kind of implementation that is the same as found in XP, otherwise they wouldn't have shown up there at all.

Also, I wonder why you can't implement the display of the buttons with some sort of transparency, since transparent layers are supported in Vista aren't they?

Thanks for the great work; keep it up.

Alexey Fadeyev
Administrator

Moderator

Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 10.01.2007 08:48:04

Quote
with release 4.2 of ATB it did work with Vista

The version 4.2 have no Vista-related code indeed but it doesn't support the advanced Aero 3D interface mode (title buttons are invisible) - version 4.3 has solved this issue.

Quote
why you can't implement the display of the buttons with some sort of transparency

Yes, we can make our buttons transparent but due to specifics of current implementation their transparency will be mixed with the transparency of underlying window itself so the buttons still won't look native.

---
Have any questions? Mail to support@actualtools.com!

User(s) reading this topic

Number of guests: 1, registered members: 0, in total hidden: 0