Transparent Windows in Leopard with Afloat

Ever wish you could view one window while working in another window? Perhaps you need Apple's Dictionary while you work on an essay. Or you want to work on an essay while watching a movie (not recommended). Afloat is your solution.

Afloat allows you to make most applications transparent with a simple keyboard shortcut. Just as easily, transparency can also be adjusted with a keyboard shortcut. Afloat also allows you to set a window to "always on top" or even as an overlay so that clicks "fall" through the window. Here is a screenshot of afloat in action:



Thank you Emanuele Vulcano for bringing Afloat to life. Afloat is donationware, so please remember to donate or even just say thank you on his blog. Click here to download the software.

Unlock the secrets to Leopard using SuperDocker

SuperDocker, which you can grab here, adds some useful functionality that Leopard should have already included. Although there are many different scripts and programs that help you configure the Dock, SuperDocker serves as an all-in-one program so you can essentially have all those different scripts and programs in one place. I won't be discussing all of SuperDocker's features here, but I will discuss a few I thought were cool or could be useful. Below is a screenshot of the first window you see when you open SuperDocker:


A useful feature I see here is the ability to “Lock icons” on your Dock. This can be useful if you, your roommate, or your grandma has a tendency to accidentally drag things off the Dock. Another cool feature is the added Minimize animation “Suck.” It’s sort of like the Genie animation, except things get pulled from the middle. Here is a screenshot of the animation from my own desktop:



The ability to add separators, which you can then drag and drop around the Dock, is also a must have for those of you looking for a solution to somehow organize your dock. Under the System configuration in SuperDocker, three other features worth mentioning are 1) the ability to choose what file-format your screen captures save to (.gif, .jpg, .tiff, .pdf) and 2) the ability to change your login screen background and 3) the ability to easily move Dashboard widgets onto your desktop (or back into Dashboard).

There are just too many features to discuss here. Try the program out for yourselves to see what the program has to offer! If you like it, please don’t forget to donate to the Ed-Shiro team (makers of SuperDocker). Now go ahead and enjoy your new Dock!