surprise, my Win8 TaskBar is now transparent (who let the dog out ?)
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The task bar has always had some level of transparency.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easierPete O'Hanlon wrote:
The task bar has always had some level of transparency.
Hi Pete, I respectfully disagree. You do realize I am speaking only using Win 8 in Desktop mode, using Start8 to completely avoid Modern/Metro ? Win OS up to 7, provided some range of opaque TaskBar colors; the first Windows gave you ... drum roll ... a choice of 16. From Win7 on, the Aero effects gave you an interesting kind of "bokeh" (blurring) effect on the TaskBar, as well as opacity. But, Aero cost you hardware cycles to achieve those effects, required certain versions of Windows, and a certain capacity video card to use DWM, etc. Some people hated the "Aero blur," and went to great lengths to try to get rid of it: [^]. In Vista some TaskBar proxy apps, like FireFox, disabled TaskBar transparency. I'm not familiar with what 3rd. party tools from companies like StarDock, and various windows mods from os-fiddlers, were able to hack the TaskBar into whatever, whenever ... I never used StarDock's products prior to Win8, and have never used any Win UI "mods." I know there was some transparent TaskBar 3rd. party program for even Windows XP, but I never used it. With Win8, Aero is gone, but clearly some functionality of it is still present, and can be hacked, as this weird How-To-Geek tutorial explains and shows you how to do: [^]. What I am describing is a sudden change from opaque TaskBar to transparent TaskBar in Win8 Desktop mode, which is not the result of any action I've taken to configure system color settings, theme, etc. Since, there's been no update of Start8, to my knowledge, and since this phenomenon occurred right after installing the latest round of Win8 MS updates, I find it reasonable to assume that the change is the result of something MS did. Occam's Razor hypothesis: the updates changed some Win 8 setting that then interacts with Start8. However, the weird background colors of Form borders, and TitleBar that I create in VS 2012, have been there since install, and have no relationship to any VS 2012 color settings, or to colors I set in my code. OR hypothesis: something I might have done in neutering Modern might have had an effect. yours, Bill
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
The task bar has always had some level of transparency.
Hi Pete, I respectfully disagree. You do realize I am speaking only using Win 8 in Desktop mode, using Start8 to completely avoid Modern/Metro ? Win OS up to 7, provided some range of opaque TaskBar colors; the first Windows gave you ... drum roll ... a choice of 16. From Win7 on, the Aero effects gave you an interesting kind of "bokeh" (blurring) effect on the TaskBar, as well as opacity. But, Aero cost you hardware cycles to achieve those effects, required certain versions of Windows, and a certain capacity video card to use DWM, etc. Some people hated the "Aero blur," and went to great lengths to try to get rid of it: [^]. In Vista some TaskBar proxy apps, like FireFox, disabled TaskBar transparency. I'm not familiar with what 3rd. party tools from companies like StarDock, and various windows mods from os-fiddlers, were able to hack the TaskBar into whatever, whenever ... I never used StarDock's products prior to Win8, and have never used any Win UI "mods." I know there was some transparent TaskBar 3rd. party program for even Windows XP, but I never used it. With Win8, Aero is gone, but clearly some functionality of it is still present, and can be hacked, as this weird How-To-Geek tutorial explains and shows you how to do: [^]. What I am describing is a sudden change from opaque TaskBar to transparent TaskBar in Win8 Desktop mode, which is not the result of any action I've taken to configure system color settings, theme, etc. Since, there's been no update of Start8, to my knowledge, and since this phenomenon occurred right after installing the latest round of Win8 MS updates, I find it reasonable to assume that the change is the result of something MS did. Occam's Razor hypothesis: the updates changed some Win 8 setting that then interacts with Start8. However, the weird background colors of Form borders, and TitleBar that I create in VS 2012, have been there since install, and have no relationship to any VS 2012 color settings, or to colors I set in my code. OR hypothesis: something I might have done in neutering Modern might have had an effect. yours, Bill
And I have to disagree with you here, I'm afraid. There is a degree of transparency with the standard Windows 8 desktop taskbar.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier -
I am using Start8 with Win8, and have "neutered" every part of Modern/Metro I could. I'm not using a high-contrast theme, and haven't done the hack to get kind-a Aero-ish effects described by HowToGeek and other sites, that let you vary the opacity of the TaskBar. Perhaps it was this week's Win updates that suddenly gave me a transparent TaskBar ? No update of Start8 I'm aware of, or have been notified of. And, now the border-color, TitleBar color, on WinForms I create in VS2012 has changed from a kind of disgusting pumpkin-vomit color, to a shade of reddish-orange: those colors were never mapped to any setting in VS 2012, and they don't match my Win8 system settings. Anyone suddenly have a change in TaskBar, or other Win colors ? thanks, Bill
“Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection." Edward Sapir, 1929
I recently formatted my PC and re-installed Windows 7. Had to go through nearly 500mb+ of updates (after Service Pack 1). For a strange reason, the clock at the bottom right corner in the taskbar displays HH:MM without the "AM" or "PM". By default it should be there. I guess that's what happened to you. :D
My Blog Tai'shar Manetheren! Tai'shar Malkier!
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I recently formatted my PC and re-installed Windows 7. Had to go through nearly 500mb+ of updates (after Service Pack 1). For a strange reason, the clock at the bottom right corner in the taskbar displays HH:MM without the "AM" or "PM". By default it should be there. I guess that's what happened to you. :D
My Blog Tai'shar Manetheren! Tai'shar Malkier!
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I am using Start8 with Win8, and have "neutered" every part of Modern/Metro I could. I'm not using a high-contrast theme, and haven't done the hack to get kind-a Aero-ish effects described by HowToGeek and other sites, that let you vary the opacity of the TaskBar. Perhaps it was this week's Win updates that suddenly gave me a transparent TaskBar ? No update of Start8 I'm aware of, or have been notified of. And, now the border-color, TitleBar color, on WinForms I create in VS2012 has changed from a kind of disgusting pumpkin-vomit color, to a shade of reddish-orange: those colors were never mapped to any setting in VS 2012, and they don't match my Win8 system settings. Anyone suddenly have a change in TaskBar, or other Win colors ? thanks, Bill
“Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection." Edward Sapir, 1929
The Windows 8 (and RT) task bar has been translucent since day one (day one being RTM day), I believe.
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And I have to disagree with you here, I'm afraid. There is a degree of transparency with the standard Windows 8 desktop taskbar.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easierHi Pete, I am afraid you completely missed my point. In both of my posts I never said there was not some level of transparency available for the Windows 8 Desktop TaksBar: as I clearly stated, to enable it you have to do some hacking, as is shown in the How-To-Geek article linked to. I wrote in a detailed way of the general history of the Win TaskBar over time, clearly stating that with Aero, you gained MS provided special graphic features that could affect the TaskBar, but that there were third-parties outside MS who did provide solutions for TaskBar transparency. The whole point of my comments was the surprising, sudden, so far unexplained, turning-transparent TaskBar in my Win 8 install that uses Start8. The correlation in time of the most recent MS updates and this sudden outbreak of transparency suggests a hypothesis they are related. However, equally valid might be to guess there might be some interaction of Start8 and the latest changes in Windows. I am glad to know you are not perfect; it's a relief :) with feet-of-clay, Bill
“Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection." Edward Sapir, 1929
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Hi Pete, I am afraid you completely missed my point. In both of my posts I never said there was not some level of transparency available for the Windows 8 Desktop TaksBar: as I clearly stated, to enable it you have to do some hacking, as is shown in the How-To-Geek article linked to. I wrote in a detailed way of the general history of the Win TaskBar over time, clearly stating that with Aero, you gained MS provided special graphic features that could affect the TaskBar, but that there were third-parties outside MS who did provide solutions for TaskBar transparency. The whole point of my comments was the surprising, sudden, so far unexplained, turning-transparent TaskBar in my Win 8 install that uses Start8. The correlation in time of the most recent MS updates and this sudden outbreak of transparency suggests a hypothesis they are related. However, equally valid might be to guess there might be some interaction of Start8 and the latest changes in Windows. I am glad to know you are not perfect; it's a relief :) with feet-of-clay, Bill
“Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection." Edward Sapir, 1929
Bill, I understood you perfectly. I am not a stupid person, and your point was easy to follow. However, you are still missing the point - I was not answering your question here, and you assumed that my comments were directed at you. If you look, my reply was to Ahmed, and I was addressing his point. More importantly, he was clear that he was seeing transparency behaviour in Windows 8 without an alternative menuing system being in place. Had I been addressing your point, I would have replied directly to you, rather than going through a third party. My perfection is now restored.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier -
I recently formatted my PC and re-installed Windows 7. Had to go through nearly 500mb+ of updates (after Service Pack 1). For a strange reason, the clock at the bottom right corner in the taskbar displays HH:MM without the "AM" or "PM". By default it should be there. I guess that's what happened to you. :D
My Blog Tai'shar Manetheren! Tai'shar Malkier!
Did you set country to India? Our country uses 24 hr timing, no AM PM
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Did you set country to India? Our country uses 24 hr timing, no AM PM
Yes. I did set the country to the selection of "India".
My Blog Tai'shar Manetheren! Tai'shar Malkier!
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Yes. I did set the country to the selection of "India".
My Blog Tai'shar Manetheren! Tai'shar Malkier!
:cool: