I want a transparent panel for KDE4. It is possible by using this path:

1) running KDE 3.5, set panel settings to 80% transparency.
2) move the users home directory to a maschine running KDE4.2.4
3) start KDE4.
4) Import user settings with wizard.
5) restart KDE4, panel is transparent.

So ... the code is definitly there in KDE4, too. The settings, too.
But where are they Do I have to keep kde3.5.10 to make user settings?

Anybody an idea?

The panel in KDE 4 can only be transparent if compositing is enabled. In this case, it appears that compositing has been enabled automatically.

compositing is enabled, otherwise konsole would not be transparent.

If compositing is enabled, themes with transparent panels have transparent panels. I already explained this in the other thread.

I've found it. I have to enable desktop effects, otherwise it does not work.

Silly question, but couldnt it be possible to have a sort of fake transparency? I mean, lets say the panel's position is recorded, then the system crops the background picture and places that under a translucent tasklayer...the end result would be basically a picture, but without needing extensive special effects. Lighter on the system as a result...

Possible? Technically yes. That was what was done in KDE 3's Kicker. Should it be done? See http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2009/03/decision-trees.html

Damn...

I recently migrated from Gnome to KDE, and I'm glad to see that Plasma doesn't use the fake transparency that Gnome-panel (and apparently Kicker) uses. As Seigo says in his blog post, the end result is amatuerish. I found it to be a painful reminder that I was using a free operating system, and it's this negative stigma surrounding free software that it would be nice to see removed. Kudos to the KDE developers for maintaining a strong sense of direction.

I noted that it would provide some modern wizz-bang effects for older computers.

Considering nothing can really get behind the panel (save for having it auto-hide when not in use) I can't see why some resources couldnt be freed up by doing it the lighter route...but then I'm not a programmer and I don't know the details in that...

well, x11 compositing worked on my old t40, too. kde3.5 used it for shadows, if I'm right. for my thing support for 4 year old technology is enough.

but one could fake tranparency by hand - at least for the panel - if the maschine is really too old: take the background picture, crope it to the part of the panel, dimm it, take it as panel background.

now there are some obstacles in this way:
one, where is the panel?
second, you'll have to generate a svg with the bitmap embedded.

but it would work, and one would not need desktop effects.

The Plasma developers have made it quite clear that they will not be implementing any hacks, and having a transparent panel without desktop effects is included in this.

"developers" usually code for themselfs, not for the user. developers trying to know what users need, thats the hack.

I don't think that 80 lines of code - that solve that naging transparency issue - are evil. i'd like to live without compositing, as a transparent panel is the only transparent object I need.

We've been through this over and over again. Fake transparency is not going to happen, end of story. If you want it, you will need to make your own panel containment that implements it or patch and recompile the existing panel.

"Developers" are trying to make the best system possible for as many people as possible, and one of the ways they are doing that is avoiding hard-to-maintain hacks like fake transparency that ultimately rendered the KDE 3.5 panel unmaintainable and forced them to move to plasma in the first place.

samhain wrote:"developers" usually code for themselfs, not for the user.

Man, that surely is one of the most depreciative remarks I ever read. Did you really mean that??