The one thing that really drew me to Android over iOS in the early days is the ability to mod the OS to make it pretty much anything you want it to be. If you find something in the UI that bothers you, or just something you think you can make better you have the power to do that. Developer "moneytoo" decided that he would like to make the volume panel better. The way he has done this is by simply making it smaller, so that it takes up less of the screen when you change the volume. The volume panel really can be quite annoying when it pops up while changing the volume setting, especially in the middle of a video or game.
The compact volume mod shrinks the height of the volume panel by half. While the mod changes the physical size of the volume panel, it maintains the stock look with all the shortcuts. The developer also tried to make it transparent, but was unsuccessful. Instead the panel keeps its blue color scheme. Head to the link below to grab this mod for CM12.
via XDA