Compton

Compton is a lightweight compositor for X11 and a refactored fork of xcompmgr-dana. It was created to improve standalone compositing on Linux desktops where the user wants window effects without a full desktop environment compositor. The project adds an OpenGL backend alongside the older X Render backend. It includes features for inactive window transparency, dimming, titlebar transparency, menu transparency, client-side shadows, colored shadows, and fade effects. It also supports configuration files, VSync options, transparent-window background blur, and window color inversion. Compton is best understood as an influential legacy X11 compositor and learning-oriented Xlib project that helped shape later lightweight compositor work.