Arch Linux

penguinstarship

Member

Registered: 2006-10-10

Posts: 52

Xfce4 Transparency

I've just decided to try out Xfce4 and I'm really liking it, I've got things configured great and I like how smoothly things are running. I'm not quite sure how to make the panel transparent, not sure if it's too common or not, but I know it has support for it. I read the Xfce4 documentation and it's a bit confusing to me, here's what it says.

Transparency

Please, note that transparency only works with an X server that supports the Composite extension, like XOrg >= 6.8.0 and the composite extension has been enabled in the configuration file and the window manager supports it (e.g. xfwm4 has to be compiled with --enable-compositor).

By default the panel will be transparent unless the autohide option has been set. When the mouse moves over the panel, the transparency will be temporarily removed.

You can create the file <basedir>/xfce4/transparency if you want to change the transparency value for the panel (or the iconbox). Create the file and add a line with the format panel=<value>, where value is a number between 0 and 100. Setting it to 0 effectively turns transparency off.

For example, a transparency file may look like this:

panel=25
iconbox=0

If this helps, I've included my xorg.conf

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder3)  Thu Nov  9 17:56:12 PST 2006

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 70.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 160.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 6600 GT"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    16
    Option         "metamodes" "1280x1024 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option      "Composite" "Enable" 
    EndSection

Now, I'm not a complete Linux noob, but some of that was a bit over my head. Perhaps there's someone reading this that could help explain it to me a little, or show me a more simple way, or maybe I'm just being completely stupid and missing something, nonetheless I hope someone can help me out with this.

sokuban

Member

Registered: 2006-11-11

Posts: 412

Re: Xfce4 Transparency

Sounds quite simple. Your xorg conf says you have composite, so simply follow what this says.

You can create the file <basedir>/xfce4/transparency if you want to change the transparency value for the panel (or the iconbox). Create the file and add a line with the format panel=<value>, where value is a number between 0 and 100. Setting it to 0 effectively turns transparency off.

And it is simple as that. Chances are xfwm4 has been compiled with composite support.

DBerest

Member

Registered: 2006-02-15

Posts: 46

Re: Xfce4 Transparency

Hi

This wiki explains how to enable composite. (I managed to follow it, so it is quite simple, really  :-) ). When I tried it with xfce (from the "official" repos), it could handle the transparency, but my puter ground to a very slow pace...

Once this works, I suppose you just create the transparency file as described in that xfce article to get transparency in the panel etc...

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Xfce4 Transparency

Alternatively change over to xfce-svn (unstable repo) or xfce 4.4rc2 (testing repo) and go to Settings -> Window Manager Tweaks -> Compositor.

penguinstarship

Member

Registered: 2006-10-10

Posts: 52

Re: Xfce4 Transparency

awesome guys, thanks for your replies! This all really helped, now it's lookin' good.

dtw

Forum Fellow

From: UK

Registered: 2004-08-03

Posts: 4,439

Website

Re: Xfce4 Transparency

I just found out about Xfce's built in compositor today and I am delighted with it.  The only thing I wish it could do, which beryl/compiz do, is blur beneath transparent areas