Apple Explains Non-Translucent Menu Bar in Leopard
Apple Explains Non-Translucent Menu Bar in Leopard
by , 4:15 PM EST, November 8th, 2007
Some Leopard users may have noticed that their new Menu bar isn't translucent, as it's supposed to be in the new OS. Apple has explained the cause.
In support article # 306894, Apple explained, "The translucent Leopard menu bar appears on most computers that are equipped with a graphics card which is compatible with Core Image.
"Some graphics cards, such as an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, may not have the necessary OpenGL capabilities to display a translucent menu bar even though they are compatible with Core Image. Those cards should render most effects, but not the translucent menu bar."
Some users may be annoyed by this limitation in their system, but others may be, in fact, overjoyed.
Observer Comments
Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:29 pm Subject: You guys are old...
so I am quite surprised that my macbook pro (intel core duo 2ghz, aty,RadeonX1600) does not display a translucent menu bar and my much older (about 4 years now) powermac g5 (ppc g5 dual 2ghz, aty,r350) does.
that seems a bit backward to me. maybe that old g5 isn't the tired old computer I'm thinking it is. But the macbook pro sure is easier to move around.
Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:51 pm Subject: "B*llSh*t!" Clear in 9A559 and not in 9A581 (Final
There's more to it than Apples pathetic excuse (lies). And what else does it affect. Everybody's whining about the da*n menu bar! What about applications that need the same support?! Let's talk about reality kids.
Face it Leopard was not ready, but released under many pressures and things got changes, left out, unfinished. And now all the FanBoys are whining. Just like the early iPhone adopters. And look at what they did to iMovieHD in iLife '08! That was so bad that now 6.0.3 is free to all '08 buyers. Why take a perfectly good application and replace it with garbage and expect no one to notice? Apple is notorious for changing things and making stupid excuses (lies) as to why. Use a Mac? Get use to and over it.
My G4 with Radeon 9000 Pro (Apple stock) and a Radeon 9200 worked great in this respect in 9A559. Translucent Menubar (was a pain to look at and deal with), all Apple Quartz/Core worked great on all three monitors with no hiccups or errors, but not in 9A581, the final release. We're just experiencing the typical Apple bait and switch. Or break, cover up and lie.
Ya all bought it on several levels. One being Apples pocketbook. Thanks for paying to be a Beta tester.
the menu bar and the corresponding semi-transparent drop down menus were all but impossible to read. Definitely not an improvement, and I'm running virtually the latest MacBook Pro, fully loaded (RAM, graphics card, etc). I hope at some point this becomes a preference that users can adjust.
Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:54 pm Subject: Re: "B*llSh*t!" Clear in 9A559 and not in 9A581 (F
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
There's more to it than Apples pathetic excuse (lies). And what else does it affect. Everybody's whining about the da*n menu bar! What about applications that need the same support?! Let's talk about reality kids.
Face it Leopard was not ready, but released under many pressures and things got changes, left out, unfinished. And now all the FanBoys are whining. Just like the early iPhone adopters. And look at what they did to iMovieHD in iLife '08! That was so bad that now 6.0.3 is free to all '08 buyers. Why take a perfectly good application and replace it with garbage and expect no one to notice? Apple is notorious for changing things and making stupid excuses (lies) as to why. Use a Mac? Get use to and over it.
My G4 with Radeon 9000 Pro (Apple stock) and a Radeon 9200 worked great in this respect in 9A559. Translucent Menubar (was a pain to look at and deal with), all Apple Quartz/Core worked great on all three monitors with no hiccups or errors, but not in 9A581, the final release. We're just experiencing the typical Apple bait and switch. Or break, cover up and lie.
Ya all bought it on several levels. One being Apples pocketbook. Thanks for paying to be a Beta tester.
Gee, trolling again, farmerbob?
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
I hope somebody comes out with an easy app to disable the translucency soon. It doesn't bother me at all, but I'm getting tired of all the whining about it.
I've heard about a little program that draws a white rectangle behind the menu bar, effectively disabling translucency. Can't remember the name of the bugger.
*googles*
Here we go: Opaque Menu Bar
Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:50 pm Subject: Re: menu bar
Quotekevinolive wrote:
so I am quite surprised that my macbook pro (intel core duo 2ghz, aty,RadeonX1600) does not display a translucent menu bar and my much older (about 4 years now) powermac g5 (ppc g5 dual 2ghz, aty,r350) does.
that seems a bit backward to me. maybe that old g5 isn't the tired old computer I'm thinking it is. But the macbook pro sure is easier to move around.
Interesting. My 17" Core Duo MBP does display the transparency.
Change the background of your desktop and take another look. See if the color of the menu bar changes.
I have a dual 2 gig G5 and the translucency is fine with me. I have the Earth image from the Nature folder of choices that Leopard installs as my desktop, and even though the space around the Earth is dead black, I have absolutely no problem reading the menu titles, or the menu options. I like the translucency. What I don't like is stacks . . . but I've been there and said what I've got to say--and am now happily using DragThing in place of the Dock.
Does this explanation strike anyone else as completely nonsensical? Practically EVERY part of OS X's UI has some sort of transparency or another, and we don't see those going non-translucent, certainly. Seriously, the menu bar is one of the least computationally-expensive compositing operations I can think of.
Quoteata wrote:
Does this explanation strike anyone else as completely nonsensical? Practically EVERY part of OS X's UI has some sort of transparency or another, and we don't see those going non-translucent, certainly. Seriously, the menu bar is one of the least computationally-expensive compositing operations I can think of.
This is NonsenseExtremeâ„¢. My PowerBook does show menus with translucency and blurrines (as the menubar does) EVEN OVER PLAYING MOVIES, and taking an area of the screen much bigger than that of the menu bar. Don't tell me my nVidia FX 5200 Go isn't capable: that's an insult to my intelligence.
I think all the 10.5 users should stop complaining and just get used to it. If you like it, keep it if you dont, i know of at least 2 ways to get rid of it:
OpaqueMenuBar - Make's the menu bar DEATH white again)
LeoColorBar - Lets you change the bar to what ever color you want and round the corners too)
Google 'em, I advise LeoColorBar!
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