Status
SteamPeaks
ChartsSalesUpcomingPatchesNewsCalculator
New on SteamEvery app, DLC and depot the minute Steam creates itAppsEvery app on Steam, newest change firstPackagesSubs and bundles, and what each containsDepotsDepots, manifests and install sizesTagsSteam's user tags and the games under themDevelopers & publishersCompanies and their cataloguesTechnologiesEngines, SDKs and anti-cheat found in the filesChange historyEvery PICS changelist as it lands
SignalsNineteen readings of the whole catalogueCompareAny games side by sideRecordsAll-time peaks and the days they were setReportsWeekly and monthly write-upsAlerts & newsroomWatch a game, get told when it movesSteam statusIs Steam up, right nowWeb API explorerTry the endpoints in the browser
NewsSteam's own announcements and the sales calendarCalculatorWhat a Steam account is worth, and its pile of shame
/
Sign in
/
SteamPeaks
The ultimate resource for Steam data.
ExploreChartsSalesSales and festsUpcomingPatchesNewsRecordsTrendingSignals
DatabaseAppsPackagesDepotsTagsDevelopersTechnologiesChange history
ToolsCalculatorCompareSearchAlertsSteam statusAPI
SiteMethodologyFAQDiscordSupportSign in via Steam
Not affiliated with Valve or Steam. Game names and artwork belong to their owners. All times UTC.
PrivacyCookiesFair useStatus
DeskLayerNewsTransparent Status: Idle UI Latency & Why Marketing Has Been Quiet
Steam news

Transparent Status: Idle UI Latency & Why Marketing Has Been Quiet

DeskLayer · published 11 Sep 2026, 21:17 UTC

All newsPlayers around this dateRead on Steam

Hey everyone,

DeskLayer v1.1 is out, but I want to address the elephant in the room and sincerely apologize for being so quiet lately, as well as the complete lack of proper marketing around this release.

To be completely honest, I couldn't bring myself to actively promote or hype up the app while knowing a critical issue was still affecting daily productivity. As a solo developer, putting on a marketing face while a core stability bug disrupts real workflows just felt wrong.

Why things have been quiet:

For the past week, almost all of my focus has been locked into tracking down an elusive edge-case bug: after sitting idle for 15 to 20 minutes, or when another window is maximized, UI clicks and interactions can stop responding.

Because DeskLayer lives directly on top of the Windows shell, debugging this meant digging into deep memory heap dumps, analyzing race conditions across 10,000+ queued Win32 messages, and untangling how WPF and Chromium handle idle power-saving states.

While significant progress has been made to eliminate background thread flooding and dispatcher deadlocks, long-term soak tests showed that it still needs further architectural refinement before it is truly rock solid.

What this means moving forward:

  • Marketing stays on hold: Active promotion and social pushes will wait until this issue is definitively resolved. Stability comes before growth.

  • Core stability first: All development effort is dedicated to bulletproofing the UI message pump and idle behavior.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the project, tested the builds, and stayed patient. I truly appreciate your understanding, and I will share another update once the long-term testing is completely clean.Temporary Workaround:

If your widgets or dock stop responding to clicks right now, you don't need to force-close the app from Task Manager. Simply press Ctrl + Shift + D to trigger a hot-reload of the dock interface and instantly restore responsiveness.

More from DeskLayer

Other announcements

All news
Game update13 Sep 2026DeskLayer Stability UpdateFixed idle freeze / slow interaction · Fixed issues where the dock, taskbar, tray, clock, and app tabs became extremely slow after prolonged idle periods. · Reduced accumulated background work clogging the WPF Dispatcher. · Offloaded heavy operations such as AppBar, Explorer, and window handling to background threads. · Added a watchdog and recovery mechanism to detect hung dispatchers. · Preve…Game update12 Sep 2026DeskLayer Update: Widget Editor Text Scaling and Stability FixesA major update is now live focusing on core system stability, eliminating UI freezes in Gap Mode, resolving responsiveness issues, and improving the Widget Editor. Core Stability and Performance · Fixed UI Freezes and Hangs in Gap Mode Resolved an issue where running in Gap Mode or switching between maximized windows could trigger an infinite occlusion reveal loop, leading to UI thread starvati…Major update8 Sep 2026DeskLayer 1.1 is LIVE!DeskLayer v1.1 Patch Notes Update Period: August 8, 2026 – September 8, 2026 1. Community Workshop Integration and Ecosystem · In-App Workshop Browser: Direct browsing for community presets, taskbars, widgets, and wallpapers with categorized filter chips (Most Subscribed, Top Rated, Most Recent), real-time search, and 1-click Subscribe/Unsubscribe. · Two-Column Interactive Sandbox Detail View:…