As of this post, GNOME Do draws most of its windows as splash screens in order to avoid some bugs in the way focus stealing and window raising is handled. Because of this, when GNOME Do windows are brought to the front, they are drawn abruptly and a bit blandly. If you’re using Compiz Fusion and you have CompizConfig Settings Manager installed (the advanced Compiz Fusion configuration utility), here are a few simple steps to take to make GNOME Do windows fade and zoom when they are activated and dismissed.

First of all, open CompizConfig Settings Manager and search for the Animations plugin by typing “anim” in the search box. Make sure the plugin is enabled by checking the box next to it. Once it’s enabled, click on the plugin to change its settings (click on images for a larger view):

Once you’ve found the settings for the Animations plugin, click on the “Open Animation” tab to change the animations that occur when a splash screen window is opened. To do this, click the Add button and an Edit window will open. Select an Open Effect from the dropdown menu (Glide 2 works well), set the duration to 100, and type “(type=Splash) & title=Do” in the text field labeled “Window Match”:

Once you have added this animation effect, you will see it listed among the other Open Animation effects:

Next, go to the Close Animation settings tab, and repeat the steps for adding the Open Animation. Once you have successfully added the new Close Animation, you will see it in the list of Close Animations:

Now GNOME Do windows should have a nice zoom and fade effect. Experiment with different animation effects to figure out which ones work best for you.