Skip to Content

Afloat 2.0 returns window floating to Leopard

by Mat Lu Apr 30th 2008 at 10:00AM



Afloat from Infinite Labs was one of my favorite SIMBL plugins, until it was broken by Leopard. It adds some clever features to windows in Cocoa applications, including a mode where the window remains always visible, "floating" above all other windows, an overlay mode where the window floats but clicks fall through to the windows below, and adjustable transparency (including a very nifty mode in which a window will be translucent until you mouse over it and then it pops into an opaque mode).

Thankfully, Afloat 2.0 now works with Leopard. In fact, it works so well with Leopard that OS X 10.5 is now required to run Afloat. The free download includes the Infinite Labs PlugSuit SIMBL plugin manager, but it is not necessary to run Afloat if you already have SIMBL installed.

[via Infinite Loop]

View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

Productivity Open Source Leopard

Afloat from Infinite Labs was one of my favorite SIMBL plugins, until it was broken by Leopard. It adds some clever features to windows in...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

15 Comments

Filter by:
David Chartier

Note that Afloat is not free, it's donationware. I think this is an important distinction to make for authors who are trying to make a living by providing great software.

Every time you don't donate for an app, a kitten (or puppy!) gets blended.

April 30 2008 at 10:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MWakey

It says it works with Safari, but I don't see it in the Window menu. It does show up in Preview and a few other apps, so I know it's installed. What am I missing here?

April 30 2008 at 6:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to MWakey's comment
David Chartier

Have you restarted Safari? You may actually need to restart your machine; I did.

April 30 2008 at 10:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian

I just wish something like this would include an option that would make windows snap to edges of the screen or other windows like AllSnap does for Windows. That has been the only thing I have been missing on my PC since I made the switch 2 months ago.

April 30 2008 at 1:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Brian's comment
Reuven

Brian -
I don't know what AllSnap is, but I suspect that what you're describing is included in Zooom - what they call "Magnetics". (http://coderage-software.com/zooom/compare/compare.html)
You may want to give it a shot (though it's not a free application, I find it's well worth the price).

April 30 2008 at 2:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Grammar Police

Here we go again. Not a plugin. See here: http://www.macjournals.com/news/inputmanagerhacks.html

April 30 2008 at 1:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Thomas

This is quite nice. The one thing I'd like is a control-key sequence that, when pressed, causes all clicks to go through the window to what's below. Then I'd never have to go into the setting menu at all.

April 30 2008 at 11:44 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KiwiBri

looks nice.. I may try and use it with CoverSutra to keep my album art or iTunes controls on the screen

April 30 2008 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to KiwiBri's comment
Guilherme

hey! nice idea!

did it work?

April 30 2008 at 12:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KiwiBri

installed it.. didnt see it work on the apps I wanted it to work.. ie. Coversutra, removed it..

May 05 2008 at 11:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
look

Great app:)

April 30 2008 at 11:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnny

This is one of those apps that looks really sweet and I want so badly to find a use for it, but after installing it, I can't really find one so I think I'm going to remove it. Can someone tell me how they use it?

April 30 2008 at 10:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Johnny's comment
jopari

I'm gonna use it to enable clickthrough abilities in my Adium window, so that I can always see who's online but not hinder my desktop (you could also use it for iChat to achieve the same thing).

April 30 2008 at 11:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jak Logan

The only thing I use it for is keeping VLC/Quicktime above my Firefox window... Does anyone know how to add/change the keyboard shortcut keys to a preference pane? When I go to the Keyboard/Mouse panel and try to add a custom keyboard shortcut, I can't find how to bring up Afloat. I want to change the shortcut keys to something more memorable.
I also wish Afloat had an option to save the transparency/afloat status to certain apps/windows. As it is now, if you Hide or minimize a window, the effects go away.

April 30 2008 at 12:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
pacheco

TOTALLY sweet, why have I not heard of this app before? I feel so late.

April 30 2008 at 10:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.