diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index c0d7d74..4c2f69b 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ static int topbar = 1;                      /* -b  option; if 0, dmenu appears a
 static const char *fonts[] = {
 	"monospace:size=14"
 };
+static const unsigned int bgalpha = 0xe0;
+static const unsigned int fgalpha = OPAQUE;
 static const char *prompt      = NULL;      /* -p  option; prompt to the left of input field */
 static const char *colors[SchemeLast][2] = {
 	/*     fg         bg       */
@@ -13,6 +15,13 @@ static const char *colors[SchemeLast][2] = {
 	[SchemeSel] = { "#eeeeee", "#005577" },
 	[SchemeOut] = { "#000000", "#00ffff" },
 };
+static const unsigned int alphas[SchemeLast][2] = {
+	/*		fgalpha		bgalphga	*/
+	[SchemeNorm] = { fgalpha, bgalpha },
+	[SchemeSel] = { fgalpha, bgalpha },
+	[SchemeOut] = { fgalpha, bgalpha },
+};
+
 /* -l option; if nonzero, dmenu uses vertical list with given number of lines */
 static unsigned int lines      = 0;
 
diff --git a/config.mk b/config.mk
index 0929b4a..260eeae 100644
--- a/config.mk
+++ b/config.mk
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ FREETYPEINC = /usr/include/freetype2
 
 # includes and libs
 INCS = -I$(X11INC) -I$(FREETYPEINC)
-LIBS = -L$(X11LIB) -lX11 $(XINERAMALIBS) $(FREETYPELIBS)
+LIBS = -L$(X11LIB) -lX11 $(XINERAMALIBS) $(FREETYPELIBS) -lXrender
 
 # flags
 CPPFLAGS = -D_DEFAULT_SOURCE -D_BSD_SOURCE -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=700 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L -DVERSION=\"$(VERSION)\" $(XINERAMAFLAGS)
diff --git a/dmenu.c b/dmenu.c
index 6b8f51b..8f72f60 100644
--- a/dmenu.c
+++ b/dmenu.c
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@
 #define LENGTH(X)             (sizeof X / sizeof X[0])
 #define TEXTW(X)              (drw_fontset_getwidth(drw, (X)) + lrpad)
 
+/* define opaqueness */
+#define OPAQUE 0xFFU
+
 /* enums */
 enum { SchemeNorm, SchemeSel, SchemeOut, SchemeLast }; /* color schemes */
 
@@ -51,6 +54,10 @@ static Window root, parentwin, win;
 static XIC xic;
 
 static Drw *drw;
+static int usergb = 0;
+static Visual *visual;
+static int depth;
+static Colormap cmap;
 static Clr *scheme[SchemeLast];
 
 #include "config.h"
@@ -58,6 +65,46 @@ static Clr *scheme[SchemeLast];
 static int (*fstrncmp)(const char *, const char *, size_t) = strncmp;
 static char *(*fstrstr)(const char *, const char *) = strstr;
 
+
+static void
+xinitvisual()
+{
+	XVisualInfo *infos;
+	XRenderPictFormat *fmt;
+	int nitems;
+	int i;
+
+	XVisualInfo tpl = {
+		.screen = screen,
+		.depth = 32,
+		.class = TrueColor
+	};
+
+	long masks = VisualScreenMask | VisualDepthMask | VisualClassMask;
+
+	infos = XGetVisualInfo(dpy, masks, &tpl, &nitems);
+	visual = NULL;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < nitems; i++){
+		fmt = XRenderFindVisualFormat(dpy, infos[i].visual);
+		if (fmt->type == PictTypeDirect && fmt->direct.alphaMask) {
+			visual = infos[i].visual;
+			depth = infos[i].depth;
+			cmap = XCreateColormap(dpy, root, visual, AllocNone);
+			usergb = 1;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	XFree(infos);
+
+	if (! visual) {
+		visual = DefaultVisual(dpy, screen);
+		depth = DefaultDepth(dpy, screen);
+		cmap = DefaultColormap(dpy, screen);
+	}
+}
+
 static void
 appenditem(struct item *item, struct item **list, struct item **last)
 {
@@ -597,7 +644,7 @@ setup(void)
 #endif
 	/* init appearance */
 	for (j = 0; j < SchemeLast; j++)
-		scheme[j] = drw_scm_create(drw, colors[j], 2);
+		scheme[j] = drw_scm_create(drw, colors[j], alphas[j], 2);
 
 	clip = XInternAtom(dpy, "CLIPBOARD",   False);
 	utf8 = XInternAtom(dpy, "UTF8_STRING", False);
@@ -653,10 +700,12 @@ setup(void)
 	/* create menu window */
 	swa.override_redirect = True;
 	swa.background_pixel = scheme[SchemeNorm][ColBg].pixel;
+	swa.border_pixel = 0;
+	swa.colormap = cmap;
 	swa.event_mask = ExposureMask | KeyPressMask | VisibilityChangeMask;
 	win = XCreateWindow(dpy, parentwin, x, y, mw, mh, 0,
-	                    CopyFromParent, CopyFromParent, CopyFromParent,
-	                    CWOverrideRedirect | CWBackPixel | CWEventMask, &swa);
+	                    depth, InputOutput, visual,
+	                    CWOverrideRedirect | CWBackPixel | CWColormap |  CWEventMask | CWBorderPixel, &swa);
 	XSetClassHint(dpy, win, &ch);
 
 	/* open input methods */
@@ -742,7 +791,8 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if (!XGetWindowAttributes(dpy, parentwin, &wa))
 		die("could not get embedding window attributes: 0x%lx",
 		    parentwin);
-	drw = drw_create(dpy, screen, root, wa.width, wa.height);
+	xinitvisual();
+	drw = drw_create(dpy, screen, root, wa.width, wa.height, visual, depth, cmap);
 	if (!drw_fontset_create(drw, fonts, LENGTH(fonts)))
 		die("no fonts could be loaded.");
 	lrpad = drw->fonts->h;
diff --git a/drw.c b/drw.c
index 8fd1ca4..6ad9e2d 100644
--- a/drw.c
+++ b/drw.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ utf8decode(const char *c, long *u, size_t clen)
 }
 
 Drw *
-drw_create(Display *dpy, int screen, Window root, unsigned int w, unsigned int h)
+drw_create(Display *dpy, int screen, Window root, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, Visual *visual, unsigned int depth, Colormap cmap)
 {
 	Drw *drw = ecalloc(1, sizeof(Drw));
 
@@ -70,8 +70,11 @@ drw_create(Display *dpy, int screen, Window root, unsigned int w, unsigned int h
 	drw->root = root;
 	drw->w = w;
 	drw->h = h;
-	drw->drawable = XCreatePixmap(dpy, root, w, h, DefaultDepth(dpy, screen));
-	drw->gc = XCreateGC(dpy, root, 0, NULL);
+	drw->visual = visual;
+	drw->depth = depth;
+	drw->cmap = cmap;
+	drw->drawable = XCreatePixmap(dpy, root, w, h, depth);
+	drw->gc = XCreateGC(dpy, drw->drawable, 0, NULL);
 	XSetLineAttributes(dpy, drw->gc, 1, LineSolid, CapButt, JoinMiter);
 
 	return drw;
@@ -87,7 +90,7 @@ drw_resize(Drw *drw, unsigned int w, unsigned int h)
 	drw->h = h;
 	if (drw->drawable)
 		XFreePixmap(drw->dpy, drw->drawable);
-	drw->drawable = XCreatePixmap(drw->dpy, drw->root, w, h, DefaultDepth(drw->dpy, drw->screen));
+	drw->drawable = XCreatePixmap(drw->dpy, drw->root, w, h, drw->depth);
 }
 
 void
@@ -193,21 +196,21 @@ drw_fontset_free(Fnt *font)
 }
 
 void
-drw_clr_create(Drw *drw, Clr *dest, const char *clrname)
+drw_clr_create(Drw *drw, Clr *dest, const char *clrname, unsigned int alpha)
 {
 	if (!drw || !dest || !clrname)
 		return;
 
-	if (!XftColorAllocName(drw->dpy, DefaultVisual(drw->dpy, drw->screen),
-	                       DefaultColormap(drw->dpy, drw->screen),
+	if (!XftColorAllocName(drw->dpy, drw->visual, drw->cmap,
 	                       clrname, dest))
 		die("error, cannot allocate color '%s'", clrname);
+	dest->pixel = (dest->pixel & 0x00FFFFFFFU) | alpha << 24;
 }
 
 /* Wrapper to create color schemes. The caller has to call free(3) on the
  * returned color scheme when done using it. */
 Clr *
-drw_scm_create(Drw *drw, const char *clrnames[], size_t clrcount)
+drw_scm_create(Drw *drw, const char *clrnames[], const unsigned int alphas[], size_t clrcount)
 {
 	size_t i;
 	Clr *ret;
@@ -217,7 +220,7 @@ drw_scm_create(Drw *drw, const char *clrnames[], size_t clrcount)
 		return NULL;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < clrcount; i++)
-		drw_clr_create(drw, &ret[i], clrnames[i]);
+		drw_clr_create(drw, &ret[i], clrnames[i], alphas[i]);
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -273,9 +276,7 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 	} else {
 		XSetForeground(drw->dpy, drw->gc, drw->scheme[invert ? ColFg : ColBg].pixel);
 		XFillRectangle(drw->dpy, drw->drawable, drw->gc, x, y, w, h);
-		d = XftDrawCreate(drw->dpy, drw->drawable,
-		                  DefaultVisual(drw->dpy, drw->screen),
-		                  DefaultColormap(drw->dpy, drw->screen));
+		d = XftDrawCreate(drw->dpy, drw->drawable, drw->visual, drw->cmap);
 		x += lpad;
 		w -= lpad;
 	}
diff --git a/drw.h b/drw.h
index 4c67419..4f66f0d 100644
--- a/drw.h
+++ b/drw.h
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ typedef struct {
 	Display *dpy;
 	int screen;
 	Window root;
+	Visual *visual;
+	unsigned int depth;
+	Colormap cmap;
 	Drawable drawable;
 	GC gc;
 	Clr *scheme;
@@ -27,7 +30,7 @@ typedef struct {
 } Drw;
 
 /* Drawable abstraction */
-Drw *drw_create(Display *dpy, int screen, Window win, unsigned int w, unsigned int h);
+Drw *drw_create(Display *dpy, int screen, Window win, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, Visual *visual, unsigned int depth, Colormap cmap);
 void drw_resize(Drw *drw, unsigned int w, unsigned int h);
 void drw_free(Drw *drw);
 
@@ -38,8 +41,8 @@ unsigned int drw_fontset_getwidth(Drw *drw, const char *text);
 void drw_font_getexts(Fnt *font, const char *text, unsigned int len, unsigned int *w, unsigned int *h);
 
 /* Colorscheme abstraction */
-void drw_clr_create(Drw *drw, Clr *dest, const char *clrname);
-Clr *drw_scm_create(Drw *drw, const char *clrnames[], size_t clrcount);
+void drw_clr_create(Drw *drw, Clr *dest, const char *clrname, unsigned int alpha);
+Clr *drw_scm_create(Drw *drw, const char *clrnames[], const unsigned int alphas[], size_t clrcount);
 
 /* Cursor abstraction */
 Cur *drw_cur_create(Drw *drw, int shape);