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OK, you might think I'm crazy, but look: I like watching movies (on my computer) (and TV series). I also have some low importance stuff I have to write up sometimes. We all know that sometimes movies get boring for a few minutes... or dozens of seconds.

I want to write a bit while that happens. My best guess would be an application that has keyboard focus even when minimized, or a full screen invisible app. That way, I just type when I feel like it, and nothing appears on the screen... I just have to type things right. When I want control back, there could be a special key or something.

Is there anything approaching the concept? Or do I have to set Notepad++ on 0% opacity, black text, and hide it outside the letterbox (with VLC on Direct3D desktop mode, ofc)?

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Not what you want, but people reading this might be interested in Glass Notepad: theking9794.deviantart.com/art/Glass-Notepad-125901790 – Shinrai Mar 16 '11 at 21:30
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Maybe you should just watch better movies. :-) – Joe Internet Mar 17 '11 at 0:22
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2 Answers

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an alternate approach would be to set VLC to always be top-most, so that even if your text editor was the active window VLC would remain on top. An application such as this DeskPins app would probably work, although i have never used this particular program (i just Googled it)

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Don't know if that'd work with VLC being used in desktop mode though, since iirc, it basically makes your desktop background the video – Matrix Mole Mar 16 '11 at 21:22
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@MatrixMole true. if the OP used VLC in a maximized window then they could create a close work around. its not a direct solution to the question, but i'll leave it to help anyone who stumbles on it. – Xantec Mar 16 '11 at 21:32
Vlc gets focus when it's top most (keyboard shortcuts), and there's a radio button for that in the cmenu. I use d3d because then I can switch focus onto something else. – Félix Saparelli Mar 16 '11 at 21:33
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up vote 0 down vote

I know mplayer can play in the root window (background) in linux, and I know that the windows-version of it works pretty well. It could be worth a shot.

Generally I did this: mplayer -rootwin -fs video.avi

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