Filed under: Software
What's up with the transparent window in Safari?
If you have the Mac OS X 10.3.9 update installed and have the debug menu enabled in Safari 1.3, take a look at the new menu option there: Use Transparent Window.If you open a new, empty window or tab in Safari and then select that menu option, you get exactly what it sounds like.
My question is... WHY???? No seriously - what purpose does it serve? Here's what it looks like with just my dekstop image in the background:
It doesn't work with a browser window that has a page loaded in it, though. I won't sleep tonight until and unless I know what this feature was intended for, in a debugging environment or otherwise.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daniel said 11:38PM on 11-09-2005
Someone mentioned text can't be selected while in transparent window mode. This is also true in dashboard widgets. Is there a way to turn this off? I want to be able to select text in a widget to copy it.
Thanks
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Mike said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Looks like it gets rid of the drop-shadow effect around the browser windows.
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Sam said 6:23PM on 10-01-2005
My guess: it's for Dashboard. Dashboard widgets are really just HTML, CSS, and Javascript, right? So maybe Dashboard renders in a transparent Safari window.
Just a guess. This is by no means an educated guess.
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Scott said 3:49PM on 9-13-2005
It is for Dashboard development. Some of the new Dashboard-specific extensions to the WebKit are also available. More on this will likely be available once Tiger ships.
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Michael May said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
There is also no drop-shadow off it like there is off every other window in OS X, try putting it (with a site in) on top of another browser window and look for the edge - you can't see it, so it looks really weird - http://www.mickeymoose.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/invisiwindow.jpg
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Michael May said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
There is also no drop-shadow off it like there is off every other window in OS X, try putting it (with a site in) on top of another browser window and look for the edge - you can't see it, so it looks really weird - http://www.mickeymoose.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/invisiwindow.jpg
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Cullen said 9:39PM on 11-22-2005
my first thought was of transparent consoles, and then transparent web browsing, ie it goes right onto your desktop. id hit it. if i could afford a mac, that is. :x
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Nathan said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
If there is not background color then the page will appear transparent...
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Joseph Scott said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
The transparent window features seems to work in any page that doesn't have a color or image specified for the body tag.
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MightyDave said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Scott is correct. This is for dashboard widgets.
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SpacePirate said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
It seems when I enabled it that I could click/drag from the safari window from anywhere within its bounds... Interesting, but quite annoying when trying to select text.
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Michael Katz said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
it doesn't seem to work for me
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Rohan said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I think its to keep new tabs/windows white-free when a URL hasn't been entered. looks kinda nicer... I guess.ut when your moving from page to page, the white in between page loads is replaced by a void.
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Kevin Ballard said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
The ability for WebKit to have a transparent background was added for Dashboard support, since Dashboard Widgets are rendered with WebKit. The fact that it was put into the Safari debug menu is so you can test your Dashboard widgets in Safari (assuming they don't rely on a widget plugin for added functionality).
And yes, it gets rid of the shadow. Why? Because rendered content in the transparent area would be given a drop-shadow if the window still had a shadow itself, and that would not be good.
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Laurie said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
You guys rock. I'll sleep peacefully now. Zzzzzzzzzz
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tf said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I could see it as useful to compare with how other browsers are rendering a site... Turn on transparency, and overlaw Safari on top of a FireFox or whatever browser window... Does Safari render tables the same way? padding? floats? fonts? Overflows? Etc...
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