(New pull opened with bug fixed) Improve navigation pane indicator to better match WinUI style

[crazyboyybs]

This change improves the navigation pane indicator appearance to better match the WinUI NavigationView style and add animations. Sorry for the double pull request. I closed the other one because I saw a bug when expanding a folder on the navigation panel, but it is now fixed.

Changes include:

• improved alignment

• adjusted thickness and roundness

• added side padding to the background

• improved visual consistency with modern Windows apps

• animations

This was implemented by partially rewriting parts of the PaintTreeViewButton function.

Before / after screenshots were provided in the discussion issue.

Thanks for the great mod!

[crazyboyybs]

@Undisputed00x Hey, sorry for the @ I was just wondering if you had a chance to test this. I realized there might be some flickering when the animation ends, I just wanted to know if it happens on your end. 'Cause if it does, I'm already working on an alternative

[Undisputed00x]

@Undisputed00x Hey, sorry for the @ I was just wondering if you had a chance to test this. I realized there might be some flickering when the animation ends, I just wanted to know if it happens on your end. 'Cause if it does, I'm already working on an alternative

Yes, the flickering is quite visible, but this is a very nice addition.

[crazyboyybs]

Yes, the flickering is quite visible, but this is a very nice addition.

@Undisputed00x That's what I thought. Thank you for testing. The flickering is due to a small delay after the overlay animated pill finishes the animation and the static one appears. I did everything that I could to make it less visible, but that's all I could do.

I have this version which I finished polishing last night. It uses a different approach of rendering inside file explorer itself and it has a more winui animation, which I can change if you'd want me to. I also made the tabs on folder properties have a more winui look too, let me know if you'd like to keep it. Let me know if you're able to test this version.

https://github.com/crazyboyybs/assets/blob/main/translucent-windows.wh.cpp

[Undisputed00x]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm quite busy at the moment. I tried the latest version of your fork and it seems that the treeview pill animation is not as smooth as it should be.

Screen.Recording.2026-03-17.173225.mp4

[crazyboyybs]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm quite busy at the moment. I tried the latest version of your fork and it seems that the treeview pill animation is not as smooth as it should be.
Screen.Recording.2026-03-17.173225.mp4

@Undisputed00x This was due to an optimization I did to make sure the animation wouldn't lag too much on heavy folders, but I was noticing the lack of smoothness on the animation myself. I went ahead adjusted the delta threshold so it wouldn't skip too many frames and also adjusted the timer to work better on higher refresh rates.

https://github.com/crazyboyybs/windhawk-mods/blob/translucentwindows/mods/translucent-windows.wh.cpp

[Undisputed00x]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm quite busy at the moment. I tried the latest version of your fork and it seems that the treeview pill animation is not as smooth as it should be.
Screen.Recording.2026-03-17.173225.mp4

@Undisputed00x This was due to an optimization I did to make sure the animation wouldn't lag too much on heavy folders, but I was noticing the lack of smoothness on the animation myself. I went ahead adjusted the delta threshold so it wouldn't skip too many frames and also adjusted the timer to work better on higher refresh rates.

https://github.com/crazyboyybs/windhawk-mods/blob/translucentwindows/mods/translucent-windows.wh.cpp

The animation lag is still visible.

Video

Recording.2026-03-18.205521.mp4

[crazyboyybs]

The animation lag is still visible.
Video

Recording.2026-03-18.205521.mp4

@Undisputed00x Honestly I could make it completely smooth, however this comes with the possibility of it lagging, jumping through the animation or skipping on very heavy folders. This is the best middle ground for it, but if you really want I can get it completely smooth. What do you think?

Or if by lag you mean you don't see the pill moving clearly through the items, that's an explorer thing

[Undisputed00x]

@Undisputed00x Honestly I could make it completely smooth, however this comes with the possibility of it lagging, jumping through the animation or skipping on very heavy folders. This is the best middle ground for it, but if you really want I can get it completely smooth. What do you think?

Or if by lag you mean you don't see the pill moving clearly through the items, that's an explorer thing

The fluidity of the animation is essential, that's why exist in UI in the first place, unfortunately the animation lag is quite high and makes it worse.

Maybe this project that has implemented custom animations for classic pop-up menus can help in implementing animations
https://github.com/ALTaleX531/TranslucentFlyouts/blob/master/TFMain/FlyoutAnimation.hpp

[crazyboyybs]

The fluidity of the animation is essential, that's why exist in UI in the first place, unfortunately the animation lag is quite high and makes it worse.

Maybe this project that has implemented custom animations for classic pop-up menus can help in implementing animations
https://github.com/ALTaleX531/TranslucentFlyouts/blob/master/TFMain/FlyoutAnimation.hpp

You're right. I'm gonna look into it again tomorrow and reply here when I have more stable version of the animation.

[crazyboyybs]

@Undisputed00x Hey there, I did it. The animation is now fully smooth while running inside explorer without being an overlay. I added in settings the option to change the animation style with 4 options, winui elastic, vertical expansion, smooth slide and no animation.

https://github.com/crazyboyybs/windhawk-mods/blob/translucentwindows/mods/translucent-windows.wh.cpp