Great App! Some quick thoughts and questions

[bbmaster123]

First off, thank you for the work you've put into this app :)

I was looking for a way to apply a png as a texture on the taskbar while retaining the modern acrylic look. I initially started with Windhawk with the taskbar styler mod, but I could only get it to a apply a fill color

Then I found RainbowTaskbar, which unless I've missed something, is the only app outside of Stardock apps that can actually apply an image! Much cool :D

I noticed the layering system right away, and tried to use that to apply my png on top of the taskbar at ~50% transparency, but it seems like the png applies to the underlay? The documentation didn't explicitly say how it works. I wanted the png to be behind the buttons but on top of the acrylic layer, is that currently possible? In any case, I've got it mostly how I want now, and I can always tweak the image a little to suit the taskbar better

I also noticed that opening and closing the start menu sometimes (but not always) causes the taskbar to flicker, with the image very obviously going from 0% transparency to 100% and then back down to its set value very quickly. Is that a me problem, or did I run into an actual bug? It seems to be related to the changing focus state, so if I click off the taskbar or start menu, or launch an app from the start menu it will flicker, but if I press the win key twice or click the button twice it seems to be fine. (Windows 11 22621.2715, Explorerpatcher Windows10 Taskbar)

lastly, do you intend on/will you consider adding a toggle for the tray icon? I can hide it myself with advancedRun, but its always nice to not have to add yet another bat file to my list of startup tasks

thanks again and best wishes to you!! cheers

[ad2017gd]

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

1. Currently, it's not supported to place graphics behind the icons, but I will look into it, as it has came in mind a few times before. Quick clarification about the layer system, it is used to mix all the graphics such as text, shapes and gradients by providing a per-layer transparency, and they can also be cleared separately. The layers are all displayed on the underlay.

2. Could you perhaps send me a video of the flicker you are talking about? I don't think that's happened to me.

3. I will add a toggle in the settings for the tray icon.

[bbmaster123]

Thanks for the fast reply! I appreciate the clarification, that explains why it behaves the way it does Here is a 10 second clip of the flickering. Upon viewing it back more slowly, I can see I that its actually the taskbar transparency that is doing the flickering. I suppose when it goes down to near 0% it has the effect of making the underlay appear more opaque.

https://github.com/ad2017gd/RainbowTaskbar/assets/92948468/9124b5c2-ac92-48dc-aeab-08c8460669bd

Currently, it's not supported to place graphics behind the icons, but I will look into it, as it has came in mind a few times before. I will add a toggle in the settings for the tray icon

awesome, thank you!

[ad2017gd]

Interesting, the Z fighting never happened to me. Do you know whether it only happens with ExplorerPatcher?

[bbmaster123]

good morning! I disabled ExplorerPatcher, and yes it's still flickering, even with the windows 11 taskbar. I'll start disabling things and see if I can find a culprit. Also happy to do more testing or provide logs, system info, etc thanks for looking into this :)

[ad2017gd]

Interesting. I think I can remember this happening on Windows 10. I'd have to set up a VM and get to working on a fix, but I don't know how much that'll take.

[bbmaster123]

Whenever you can, no rush. I can live with it for now. I'll also test in a fresh VM (I keep a checkpoint of a fresh install + latest updates), see what happens, and post what I find here on Monday. Enjoy your weekend!

[bbmaster123]

So I gave it a quick test in my VM, and on a completely clean copy of windows it doesn't flicker at all while taskbar style is set to default or transparent, but does when set to blurred. Once I switch over the the windows 10 taskbar using explorerpatcher, the issue happens with blurred and transparent, but not default.

I haven't had a chance yet to test on an actual windows 10 system, but I will tonight. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like me to test out on my end, happy to mess up the whole VM ;)