No Transparency for Applications

I am trying to use a variety of Windowblinds Skins for WB v5. I am using ones that look like Vista Glass.

I have achieved a transparent taskbar, which is a nice feature. However, I cannot for the life of me get a single application window to be transparent, the borders and the titlebar, I mean. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here. The skin that works the best thusfar is MiLork skin from Deviant Art (http://tinyurl.com/yua5d9) but again, despite the picture showing transparent titlebars, I can't get it. The preview picture in Window Blinds does not show transparency either.

What gives?! If the taskbar can be transparent, I should be on the right track...right?

Thanks a lot.

#448249

your graphic card probably doesn't support pixel shader or something like that, WB5 needs that feature to draw glass border..

What graphic chip do you have ?

#448250

Aw, jeez. That sucks. I'm on an old Thinkpad T23 which means a 16MB S3 Super Savage. It does a lot, but I don't know about that.

Darn. Thanks.

#448251

In your Windowblinds configuration window, if you select "view system information" it should tell you if your system supports per-pixel skins.

#448271

I'll try it on my other computer, a newer IBM laptop.

In general, though, does Windowblinds 5 slow down a computer much? I have a 1.13ghz PIIIm with 1GB of PC133 RAM and a 7200 RPM hard drive. I use XP Themes anyway, so its not like I'm comparing it to classic mode or anything...is there really any noticeable performance drop?

#448311

Straight from Stardock website:

"Moreover, because WindowBlinds uses the latest features of your graphics card, it can make Windows even faster than the default Windows XP or “Aero” style."

"And best of all, it does this using DirectX acceleration so for most users, it actually increases performance over standard Windows."

" WindowBlinds 5 requires no in memory programs in order to work. Moreover, while Windows XP includes a built in skinning system called Uxtheme.dll, WindowBlinds uses wblind.dll instead and its skins tend to use less memory than the included .msstyles."

Does the above answer your question? Also like Island Dog suggested, check the windowblinds control panel for your system info if it supports per-pixel alpha blending.

#448338