Leopard menu bar in 'still grey' shock
I'm just getting used to Leopard and have been road testing all the regulars - a new stack here, a set of Spaces there - but hang on, weren't desktop pictures meant to bleed right through* the menu bar? In fact, I'm sure they did for the first few days. But now, the show-through has completely vanished and I've got a reassuring solid grey*. I'm certainly not complaining - in fact I prefer it this way - but was there something hidden in the prefs that I've inadvertently turned on - or is this the friendliest of Leopard bugs?
* London calling. Apologies for the vernacular.
* London calling. Apologies for the vernacular.
Comments
You should try using the Grass desktop picture provided in the desktop options in the prefs pane.
Then see if the menu bar is still solid.
And are you using a PowerPC mac or an Intel?
Why would apple put that in there?
Hey, what's with the Zebra picture in the desktop prefs?
Why would apple put that in there?
For the upcoming Mac OS Z.
Hey, what's with the Zebra picture in the desktop prefs?
Why would apple put that in there?
Reminds me of the time I found a shoe, maybe it's a sign
For the upcoming Mac OS Z.
Sounds catchy
Reminds me of the time I found a shoe, maybe it's a sign
A shoe??
Wow...
I'm just getting used to Leopard and have been road testing all the regulars - a new stack here, a set of Spaces there - but hang on, weren't desktop pictures meant to bleed right through* the menu bar? In fact, I'm sure they did for the first few days. But now, the show-through has completely vanished and I've got a reassuring solid grey*. I'm certainly not complaining - in fact I prefer it this way - but was there something hidden in the prefs that I've inadvertently turned on - or is this the friendliest of Leopard bugs?
Not all graphics cards supported by Leopard implement the necessary OpenGL capabilities to do this, not even all Core Image-capable cards. Via John Gruber:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306894
I was a bit confused at first, as my 1.67GHz PowerBook renders the menu bar as translucent, while my G5 (with a higher-end GPU) does not. Turns out that 2560 pixels (the native horizontal resolution of a 30" Cinema Display) is too many pixels for the effect. Reducing the resolution results in the menu bar becoming translucent.
It is worth noting that the translucent menu bar effect is the result of a more complex process than simply compositing the image on top of the desktop, with a reduced (non 100%) opacity. There is actually some Core Image work going on behind the scenes, which dynamically adjusts the menu bar's appearance depending on certain characteristics of your desktop picture. This was mentioned at WWDC 07. I think they're using the new CIAreaAverage filter.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306894
- Thanks for this, alloc init; case solved. It explains everything, including the fact that my younger MBP is showing the desktop pics bleeding through as advertised. In answer to smee, the affected machine is a dual 1.8 G5, so I'm now able to put this down to an aged (four whole years...) video card. But as I said, I truly don't care; it's the least useful feature in Leopard so far as I can tell.
Thanks for this, alloc init; case solved. It explains everything, including the fact that my younger MBP is showing the desktop pics bleeding through as advertised. In answer to smee, the affected machine is a dual 1.8 G5, so I'm now able to put this down to an aged (four whole years...) video card. But as I said, I truly don't care; it's the least useful feature in Leopard so far as I can tell.
I'm glad we could help!