openbox compositing.

We know that Openbox is plain and sometimes way too minimalistic but if you need a compositor for transparency, shadows or i dont know what else check Compton

# apt-get install compton

create compton.conf in your ~/ (home directory) and place your settings there (i will give my configuration later on)

Compton offers transparency, shadow effects, multiple color of shadows, that's actually nice for dark themes and a really nice fading effect.



Now that you created the conf file in your home directory you'll want to place it in ~/.config/openbox/autostart you can do that by adding the following line:

compton --config ~/.config/compton.conf &

re-login and voila.

My configuration file is the following

# Shadow

shadow = true; # Enabled client-side shadows on windows.

no-dock-shadow = true; # Avoid drawing shadows on dock/panel windows.

no-dnd-shadow = true; # Don't draw shadows on DND windows.

clear-shadow = true; # Zero the part of the shadow's mask behind the window (experimental).

shadow-radius = 7; # The blur radius for shadows. (default 12)

shadow-offset-x = -7; # The left offset for shadows. (default -15)

shadow-offset-y = -7; # The top offset for shadows. (default -15)

# shadow-opacity = 0.7; # The translucency for shadows. (default .75)

# shadow-red = 0.0; # Red color value of shadow. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0)

# shadow-green = 0.0; # Green color value of shadow. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0)

# shadow-blue = 0.0; # Blue color value of shadow. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0)

shadow-exclude = [ "n:e:Notification" ]; # Exclude conditions for shadows.

# shadow-exclude = "n:e:Notification";

shadow-ignore-shaped = true;

# Opacity

menu-opacity = 0.9; # The opacity for menus. (default 1.0)

inactive-opacity = 1.0; # Opacity of inactive windows. (0.1 - 1.0)

frame-opacity = 1.0; # Opacity of window titlebars and borders. (0.1 - 1.0)

inactive-opacity-override = true; # Inactive opacity set by 'inactive-opacity' overrides value of _NET_WM_OPACITY.

# Fading

fading = true; # Fade windows during opacity changes.

# fade-delta = 15; # The time between steps in a fade in milliseconds. (default 10).

fade-in-step = 0.03; # Opacity change between steps while fading in. (default 0.028).

fade-out-step = 0.03; # Opacity change between steps while fading out. (default 0.03).

# no-fading-openclose = true; # Fade windows in/out when opening/closing.

# Other

#inactive-dim = 0.5; # Dim inactive windows. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0).

mark-wmwin-focused = true; # Try to detect WM windows and mark them as active.

mark-ovredir-focused = true;

detect-rounded-corners = true;

# Window type settings

wintypes:

{

  tooltip = { fade = false; shadow = false; opacity = 0.75; };

};

 

I got it from a post in archlinux forums and i modified it to my needs (disabled transparency for inactive windows etc) you can enable it by changing the values in frame and inactive-opacity from 1.0 to e.g 0.8
Good luck i hope that post helped you.