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Dim everything but the active window Apps
BananaSoft has created a freeware application called FocusLayer, which allows you to dim everything but the active window. The amount of dimming is adjustable, and the application also comes with an optional menu extra. I've not seen someone come up with this before, and it seems visually quite useful. Check it out!

[robg adds: This is a very unique and useful application. In limited testing this morning, the only potential downside I see is that it takes a bit of CPU power -- anywhere from 5% to 25% of my G4/733, depending on what I was switching to or from. But it's certainly interesting enough to merit a try out -- you can also choose between dimming non-active windows (the default) or non-active applications, and whether you want to use a dock icon, menu bar icon, or both to control the program.]
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Dim everything but the active window | 3 comments | Create New Account
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Dim everything but the active window
Authored by: bdhond on May 01, '03 12:36:31PM

After one look at what this program does I was sold on it.
And processor use is minimal (0% in ProcesViewer) if you put the update time to, say, 0.1 seconds. At 0 seconds, the default, processor use soon was up to 30 percent on my 800 Mhz iBook.

I was also curious to see whether dimming half the screen area would increase battery time. But I don't see it making any difference to the 'time remaining' item of the battery menu so far




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Dim everything but the active window
Authored by: sebastienb on May 01, '03 12:44:33PM

This isn't the same as dimming the screen. Dimming the screen actually lowers the backlight of the LCD; this program only 'dims' the other apps by changing its windows brightness.



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Dim everything but the active window
Authored by: rjbs on Oct 29, '03 02:35:25PM

This application works in Panther, but Expose makes room for the whole layer when tiling, so a lot of otherwise useable space is lost.



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