From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Reitter Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: images / alpha-blending Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 11:44:23 +0000 Message-ID: References: <67EC83DF-6455-41BF-8AE0-E00127822217@gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v746.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1140457668 23439 80.91.229.2 (20 Feb 2006 17:47:48 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:47:48 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Emacs-Devel ' Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Feb 20 18:47:47 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FBF8P-0001jx-SK for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:47:42 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FBEjn-0008LV-R1 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:22:16 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FBAgS-0004UU-DD for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 08:02:33 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FBAHl-0006H0-R8 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 07:37:10 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FB9St-0005iu-Hq for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:44:28 -0500 Original-Received: from [66.249.82.204] (helo=xproxy.gmail.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FB9Yu-00089m-SV for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:50:41 -0500 Original-Received: by xproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id t13so646832wxc for ; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 03:44:26 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:in-reply-to:references:mime-version:content-type:message-id:cc:content-transfer-encoding:from:subject:date:to:x-mailer; b=aVWEhPBTFcCHmh6pARDM9jsnj69V9u9gzPXWwgRWyJWrpgnwWkVSM38alIeS6Q1xAWLS0DQ4nUjrmR9bzKB9+8befI1n//vNu0rIvsXR56bAtsVAJG89J5LLrpiyBnxANuBBpsIN68MwOXCn7kYYqcSFRc7EZC2owTdFezCLIZQ= Original-Received: by 10.70.112.1 with SMTP id k1mr2362836wxc; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 03:44:26 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: from ?129.215.174.81? ( [129.215.174.81]) by mx.gmail.com with ESMTP id h19sm4818615wxd.2006.02.20.03.44.25; Mon, 20 Feb 2006 03:44:26 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: Original-To: rms@gnu.org X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.746.2) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:50812 Archived-At: On 19 Feb 2006, at 22:47, Richard M. Stallman wrote: > What is alpha-blending? What does the feature do? > > We don't want Emacs to support features that are limited to a non-free > system; that would betray the goal we are working for. An "alpha layer" is a form of "graded transparency layer". With basic transparency, you define a bitmask where one bit corresponds to one pixel, indicating whether or not the background should be displayed in that pixel (rather than a pixel belonging to the actual image). An alpha layer assignes a value of higher resolution to each pixel. When the image is displayed, the background color for that pixel blends in with the image pixel. This produces smooth edges. Supporting this is not merely a matter for the application (Emacs), but also for the graphics device and layers in between. So of course it wouldn't make sense to produce an alternative icon set if the images required something that isn't and won't be equally supported on the free platforms. Hence my question.