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rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

[SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

I am using a very basic Conky setup with Xfce, but can't get semi-transparency using the 'xftalpha' setting to work. I tried different fonts, with and without the Xfwm compositor enabled, checked if I used the freetype2 bytecode interpreter intead of autohinter,  but the text stays opaque. Maybe I'm overlooking something simple?

~/.conkyrc

alignment top_right
background no
border_width 0
cpu_avg_samples 2
default_color 000000
default_outline_color 000000
default_shade_color 000000
double_buffer yes
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
draw_outline no
draw_shades no
font 6x10
gap_x 5
gap_y 0
minimum_size 5 5
net_avg_samples 2
no_buffers yes
out_to_console no
override_utf8_locale yes
own_window_argb_visual yes
own_window_class Conky
own_window no
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
show_graph_range no
show_graph_scale no
stippled_borders 0
update_interval 10.0
uppercase no
use_spacer none
use_xft yes
xftfont Impact:size=60
xftalpha 0.5

TEXT
${font Impact:size=60}${time %H}:${font Impact:size=90}${time %M}${font Impact:size=14}
$alignr${time %A / %B %-d}

I get no error messages:

[a_user@arch-macbookpro ~]$ conky
Conky: desktop window (1000003) is subwindow of root window (15d)
Conky: drawing to desktop window
Conky: drawing to double buffer

Last edited by rwd (2011-06-20 10:08:15)

Stebalien

Member

Registered: 2010-04-27

Posts: 1,237

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

This may not fix your problem but try commenting out 'font 6x10' (you don't need it as you are using xft).

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Do not email: honeypot@stebalien.com

rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

This may not fix your problem but try commenting out 'font 6x10' (you don't need it as you are using xft).

After commenting it out and restarting conky the problem persists.

grimi

Member

Registered: 2009-12-27

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

Hi. Try:
own_window  yes
own_window_transparent no

Last edited by grimi (2011-06-16 17:21:21)

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rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

Hi. Try:
own_window  yes
own_window_transparent no

Now I only get a little window that is totally black, with no transparency. Not the solution either it seems.

Last edited by rwd (2011-06-16 17:45:45)

grimi

Member

Registered: 2009-12-27

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

Ups. I forgot about:
own_window_argb_value [0-100]

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rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

Ups. I forgot about:
own_window_argb_value [0-100]

With 'own_window_argb_value  50' I still get the same black window. When add 'own_window_argb_visual yes' I see the text again with the desktop behind it, but not the semi transparent text that I would like. Maybe someone can test my .conkyrc?

Last edited by rwd (2011-06-16 18:23:41)

grimi

Member

Registered: 2009-12-27

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

Impossible, i took your config, i have modified, and got semi-transparency.
This is result:

alignment top_right
background no
border_width 0
cpu_avg_samples 2
default_color 000000
default_outline_color 000000
default_shade_color 000000
double_buffer yes
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
draw_outline no
draw_shades no
font 6x10
gap_x 5
gap_y 0
minimum_size 5 5
net_avg_samples 2
no_buffers yes
out_to_console no
override_utf8_locale yes
own_window_argb_visual yes
own_window_argb_value 50
own_window_class Conky
own_window yes
own_window_transparent no
own_window_type normal
show_graph_range no
show_graph_scale no
stippled_borders 0
update_interval 10.0
uppercase no
use_spacer none
use_xft yes
xftfont Impact:size=60
xftalpha 0.5

TEXT
${font Impact:size=60}${time %H}:${font Impact:size=90}${time %M}${font Impact:size=14}
$alignr${time %A / %B %-d}

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rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

If create a new .conkyrc with exactly those settings I get the same transparent background and opaque black text as before. At least now I know the settings in .conckyrc are not the cause. Maybe something to do with xorg or font settings. Do I need to load any modules in my xorg.conf?

Last edited by rwd (2011-06-16 19:18:04)

grimi

Member

Registered: 2009-12-27

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

Sorry,sorry,sorry.
I don't know, how I was reading your post, but I thought about conky window,not a font.
I checked again your conkyrc , and actually I can't also get font semi-transparency.
Hmm... I have to go to sleep.
Good luck.

Last edited by grimi (2011-06-16 20:34:56)

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SteveK

Member

Registered: 2010-06-11

Posts: 80

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

I just had a little play with your config, and it seems that changing fonts in the TEXT section is what is causing the problem.  Just using the time values alone gives semi-transparent text as expected.

Sorry I don't have a solution, but at least it narrows it down a bit for you to play with or maybe bug report.

rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

Re: [SOLVED] Conky : no semi-transparency with xftalpha

SteveK: thanks. It seems that only the font and fontsize defined with 'xftfont' can be used. So a ${font} in front of something in the TEXT section gives the default font and thus semi transparent. Other than that I suppose one could  set 'own_window yes' and let the windowmanager/compositor handle the transparency, or use bitmap fonts that are semi transparent.