DudeGlass
DudeGlass
A NOTE FROM THE CREATOR
Music Teacher
Developer
The Dude Himself(Jeff Bridges Will Also Always Be The Dude)
Brendan Twamley · Creator of DudeGlassI’m a high-school music teacher by trade, an advanced PC user, and the person driving DudeGlass’s ideas and architecture. I have zero coding knowledge. I use AI to help turn the design into working software, while I make the product decisions, test what actually happens, troubleshoot the problems and keep pushing the build towards the experience I have in mind. My everyday setup runs three monitors, and sometimes four. I know how I want my computer to work, and this project grew from refusing to settle for the parts that get in the way.
Every new idea seemed to break five other things. I’d fix those, try again, change one thing, and break three more. Then I’d go back, find out why, and keep working. It has been a long lesson in patience, curiosity and refusing to let a difficult problem have the last word.
I’ve driven the vision, the workspace design, the testing and the stubborn little details that turn an experiment into something useful. I pushed for live controls that stay readable, invisible zones that still scroll, reveal buttons that remember their job, and a Companion that quietly gets on with it in the tray. I kept bringing the pieces back together, testing them on my own desktop, and asking what would make the experience feel easier for the person using it.
The hurdles have been properly ridiculous at times: rendering differences between apps, version-specific adapters, cursor behaviour, lost focus, clicks landing in the wrong place, and a fix in one corner causing chaos in another. Keeping something transparent while making its controls dependable takes a lot of testing and a willingness to start again. Apparently, my after-school hobby became asking Windows, “Why the hell would you do that?” Then working out a better answer.
The innovation I’m chasing is a workspace built from the useful parts of your programs, with their placement and interaction designed around you. To the best of my knowledge, some of the ways I’m bringing that idea together are breaking new ground. That’s my perspective as the creator, and I want to back it up with working demonstrations. We have qualified glass support for two programs so far, and I’m proud of the persistence and problem solving it took to get here.
Despite all of that—or maybe because of it—I’m excited about what DudeGlass could become. I want to make software that feels natural to use: a stylish Windows workspace that remembers your choices and gives you useful controls without turning every small adjustment into another job.
Make It Your Workspace.
- Adjust window opacity and explore glass treatments in supported apps.
- Use colour-wheel controls for supported workspace backdrops and glass tints.
- Create a crop copy, or crop and hide the original window.
- Group desktop shortcuts behind text-only reveal buttons.
- Scroll across the invisible group zone and choose your preferred sort order.
- Save workspace arrangements, back up settings and restore saved app positions.
- Keep Companion in the tray while desktop reveal controls run independently.
- Send feedback with an optional screenshot you can preview before sharing.
These features have different support requirements. Compatibility is being tested application by application as the beta develops.
I’ve lived through Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 10 and 11. Across those versions, I’ve noticed one common thing: they all suck.
That’s my very diplomatic review. Simple settings can turn into a hunt through menus. One useful control comes wrapped in an entire window. References disappear behind whatever you’re working on, your desktop becomes a game of hide-and-seek, and getting everything into a comfortable layout can feel like a job of its own. Too often, I end up arranging my work around the interface when I want the interface to fit my work. I want more freedom over what stays visible, what moves, and what gets out of the way. It’s my PC. Let me use the damn thing my way.
I’m also tired of watching people disappear down the YouTube “PC optimization” rabbit hole, make a pile of changes, and come back with negligible gains—if they notice any gain at all. I’ve seen the frustration when those tweaks break useful features or leave someone troubleshooting a computer that was working before. My goal is to make improvements you can actually feel in everyday use: a clearer workspace, useful controls within reach, and choices you understand. Your PC should work for you. Getting there shouldn’t require sacrificing the features you still rely on.
THE IDEA I KEEP COMING BACK TO
Programs Inside Programs.
Your Placement. Your Choice.
My ambition is a minimally invasive separation of an application’s background UI from its useful controls. I want to go beyond a transparency skin: keep the pieces you need, remove unused visual regions and their input-blocking areas where support allows, and arrange controls from different applications around the way you work.
The design goal is to change presentation while preserving what the original application does, without rewriting its installed files or modifying anti-cheat systems. Complete UI separation and cross-application arrangements remain development goals, with rendering and input behaviour to be qualified for each supported application.
I believe in the right to repair. I believe in user experience, accessibility and usability. I don’t support subscription models for the ownership experience I’m trying to offer here: DudeGlass’s planned beta license is a one-time purchase for lifetime beta use. Those values should guide this product and the ideas that follow it.
I’m still a full-time music teacher, so there are limits to the hours I can put into this. AI usage, servers and hosting also cost money. I can’t do all of it alone, and every person who supports the project or takes the time to share useful feedback helps me keep moving.
Please tell us what you like, what gets in your way, and what you’d like DudeGlass to do next. The website feedback form is open now. In-app feedback, including an optional screenshot, will also be available when its public service is configured. I’d love to hear from you.
Thank you for being part of this.
-The Dude