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.

Bugs

(Or what I like to call 'Unanticipated Features')

There are a couple of issues that you may or may not be interested in knowing about Vitrite:

  • Vitrite will not work on the following Windows operating systems: Windows 95, 98, or ME. The features that Vitrite uses are only available on Windows 2000 and XP. Sorry, not much I can do about this one.
  • Vitrite can't change the transparency of the Command Prompt program (CMD.EXE). I'm still working on this and should have a fix (or at least a better explanation) available soon.

Tipping

This is something new I'm trying out. Vitrite has proven to be 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 if I can't make a little scratch.

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.

Update: It turns out that tipping for open source software is not a good way to make a living. In fact, it's barely good enough to pay for few nights in a hotel. Salty.