About
Vitrite is a tiny utility written by me,
Ryan VanMiddlesworth, that allows you
to manually adjust the level of transparency for almost any visible window. It
works by utilizing a feature present in Windows 2000/XP (and all later
incarnations) for variable window transparency.
When executed, Vitrite minimizes to the system tray in the lower right corner of
the screen. If you wish to make a window transparent, you simply bring the window into focus
(i.e. click on it) and press Ctrl Shift [any number on the top row on
the keyboard]. There are 9 different levels of transparency: 1=90%
transparency, 9=10% transparency, and everything in between.
Vitrite also has the ability to toggle a window's "always on top" flag. Just press
Ctrl Shift + (that's the plus sign) and it will make the active window float on
top of the other windows. Press it again to reverse this behavior.
Vitrite was written in C and is licensed under the
GNU General Public
License. If you'd like to receive the source code to Vitrite under a non-GPL
license, contact me and we'll work
something out. (Hint: That means you'll have to pay me.)
Download
Vitrite is available in two different release versions: Self-Extracting Install or
Zipped Release.
- Self-Extracting Install (85 KB) - This is the easiest way to get Vitrite running. You just download it and let it run. Don't worry, it's a very polite installation and a full uninstall is available.
- Zipped Release (43 KB) - The paranoid amongst you can download this version. It consists of the executable, a .DLL, and some text files. If you download the Zipped Release you'll need to know what to do with it. Consider it the 'Advanced Setup'.
Since Vitrite is licensed under the GPL, the source code is also freely available.
Vitrite was written in C and originally developed in Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0.
However, because I am an addict of all things new and shiny (that's why I wrote
Vitrite), I have since upgraded to Visual Studio .NET. The source code will therefore
be available as a MS Visual Studio .NET solution. This does not mean that Vitrite uses
Microsoft's .NET framework - it doesn't, Vitrite was written entirely in pure C.
- Source Code (33 KB) - This is the whole
enchilada. It will open as a solution in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. It also
shouldn't be too difficult to get working in MS Visual Studio 6, provided you have
the most recent Platform SDK.
Tipping
This is something new I'm trying out. Vitrite has proven to be much more popular than I'd originally anticipated. Apparently, I must have done something right. Anyway, I figured I'd throw a PayPal donation button up on here and see what happens.
I like to think of programming as a form of art. I do it because I enjoy it, but a little tipping certainly doesn't hurt. Any money that I make from Vitrite allows me to devote that much more time to these sort of pursuits.
Nonetheless, Vitrite is free to use and always will be.
