The Transparent Windows Desktop

Flickr user joergermeister wanted a really original desktop, so he decided to make his completely transparent. That’s right — the wallpaper sits in the back, but the windows, alerts and other utilities are completely see-through.

Even his application windows (the ones that could be modified, that is) are clear and show through to the desktop. That’s Chrome right there, and while we can’t tell if he’s using a static image as his Chrome theme or if he’s set it up so that Chrome really is transparent, we dig the effect. Want to try it for yourself? Here’s what you’ll need.

• The Plaza Tiltshift wallpaper from Flickr user tsearcher.
• The Rainmeter system configuration and management utility for Windows.
• The Cowon Clock for Rainmeter for the clock in the upper right corner of the screen.
• The Shine 2.0 theme for Windows 7 to make the UI elements transparent.
• The Token icon set for the Windows Taskbar.
• The Speed Dial 2 extension for Chrome to tweak the start page (see joergermeister’s blog post (German) for details on how he did it.)
• The Minimal Start Orb to replace the Windows start button.

That should get you most of the way there. joergermeister had transparency turned on in every application he could find transparency options for, just to stay consistent with the look, but not every application will let you do that. Want some help getting yours set up just right? Head over to joergermeister’s Flickr page to ask how he made it happen, or check out our guide to Rainmeter.

In this case, it’s tough to tell Mac and Linux users that it’s easy to get the same effect. Mac users can give GeekTool a shot to get the clock on the desktop (and our guide to it to help), but I’d love to hear from Linux users who know a way to get the same effect on their systems. Let us know in the comments below!

Pimp My Desktop Part 29 [Flickr]