Xgl + Compiz = Fancy effects
Those who keep an eye on Linux will no doubt have heard of Xgl and Compiz, the two things that herald the coming of an era in which Linux doesn’t look rubbish.
I spent some time hacking around with compiz’s plugin system, and managed to create a working plugin which allows you to change the active window’s opacity by using ctrl+shift+mousewheel. You can get the plugin and source and read the code walkthrough I wrote.
(If you try the plugin and it alters the window’s saturation rather than opacity, your version of Compiz is too old - compile a new version from CVS.)
Don’t forget to digg this story!
Update: Mike “PsyberOne” Sylvester provided me with a simple patch for Makefile.am should you wish/need to compile it with Compiz yourself. This is now in the archive.
