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winder / Universal-G-Code-Sender

A cross-platform G-Code sender for GRBL, Smoothieware, TinyG and G2core.
http://winder.github.io/ugs_website/
GNU General Public License v3.0
1.9k stars 766 forks source link

Laser safety glasses friendly display #1617

Open kazafog opened 3 years ago

kazafog commented 3 years ago

I have just recently bought a laser, with these came red safety glasses. Unfortunately, all the themes (look and feel) options can hardly be seen while wearing the glasses. I cannot find any obvious way of changing the DRO colour scheme to something that I can see clearly.

Is there a simple way to change the fonts, colours, size etc within the DRO?

If not would this be difficult to implement.?

J-Dunn commented 3 years ago

Good point.

Even being able to change the font would be good since the default font is very flaky on my machine and not at all easy to read.

breiler commented 3 years ago

Good idea. The colors should not be too hard to implement, but the font size will be harder as it is currently implemented so that it will resize the text to make it fit in the current window.

J-Dunn commented 3 years ago

but the font size will be harder as it is currently implemented so that it will resize the text to make it fit in the current window.

Would it be hard to make it not to resize the text. That is clearly where the problem is. Font design is a art, to provide a clear readable rendition in a relatively small number of pixels. Arbitrary resizing is almost bound to make it less readable.

It is certainly not comfortable to read.

That particularly concerns the command and console panels. I really do not want to struggle to read every line. I can't work like that.

breiler commented 3 years ago

Would it be hard to make it not to resize the text. That is clearly where the problem is. Font design is a art, to provide a clear readable rendition in a relatively small number of pixels. Arbitrary resizing is almost bound to make it less readable.

Quite a lot of work has been made to make the software usable on both smaller and larger resolutions without the need for the user to customise every nook and cranny. Sure, its not perfect, but before we throw all of that work out I would be more interested in exactly what doesn't work to see if it can be fixed.

The question from @kazafog was primarily the color scheme of the DRO and that can be fixed. I think that we have other issues when using dark theme which would also benefit from this. The fonts could be customisable but would require a bit more work and it wouldn't be my top priority.

I can't work like that.

I contribute to this project for fun, on my spare time, for free. If that doesn't work for you there are plenty of other softwares to choose from.

J-Dunn commented 3 years ago

Thanks. Customisable fonts would be ideal. I appreciate that is a non trivial mod, but isn't it possible just to used fixed sized fonts rather than scaling them? It's nice to support a wide range of hardware but it should not be detrimental.

every nook and cranny, fine, but basic legibility is pretty important.

Maybe a solution could be implemented using just a line in a config file rather than a fancy GUI font chooser. It could default to the existing behaviour if no spec if provided by user. For example if I specify Mono 10pt, a generic monospace font is usually available. There is no need to offer all available fonts on a give system, with a fancy UI.

Also for the command and console panels. a monospace font may work better as a default. I'd be less concerned about the button labels, even if a bit fuzzy. Once you know what they are, you don't need a high degree of legibility but if I need to look at $$ output or the list of sent commands, it needs to be easily read, not fuzzy, rescaled, anti-alised fonts.

there are plenty of other softwares to choose from.

Thanks for the link. Sadly the choice is limited on Linux. That's why I've been using UGS until now. FWIW I quickly ran up bCNC, the text is even smaller but nice and clear since it is not scaled.

Like I said, arbitrary scaling is not a good way to go, especially with small fonts. How about considering a limited choice of fixed sizes to satisfy different h/w needs. You could call that a quantised scaling approach. Rather than scaling to 10.5pt, snap to the nearest available font size after working out the optimum desired size for the h/w found.

UGS has a lot to offer but the font issue seriously impairs usability.

kazafog commented 3 years ago

brieler and J-Dunn thanks for responding.

Personally font colour is my main issue, as i can use UGS just fine without some of the colour spectrum being blocked by the safety specs. I mentioned size, type as good wishlist items more so I suppose. Obviously different lasers require different colour safety specs too, which will benefit from different changes.

UGS is the only program I use and I am fairly used to the layout, I was a bit thrown when donning the specs, it'd be great to be able to keep using UGS. The time and effort that has been put into it is very evident.

Unfortunately though, I have never touched Netbeans so it could well turn into a nightmare if I go delving into the UI. I had a quick look but am a bit time poor at the minute.

thanks

J-Dunn commented 3 years ago

Sure, its not perfect, but before we throw all of that work out I would be more interested in exactly what doesn't work to see if it can be fixed.

Are you asking for a more specific description of the problem? Why exactly, what would you like?

breiler commented 3 years ago

Are you asking for a more specific description of the problem? Why exactly, what would you like?

Because I don't experience the problem with "fuzzy" fonts so it is important that I understand the cause of the issue to be able to reproduce it. Maybe it's related to your specific setup. It could also be related to the specific "Look-and-feel" on your system. Or I might have different expectations of the software.

arbitrary scaling is not a good way to go, especially with small fonts. How about considering a limited choice of fixed sizes to satisfy different h/w needs. You could call that a quantised scaling approach. Rather than scaling to 10.5pt, snap to the nearest available font size after working out the optimum desired size for the h/w found.

We are using a step based scaling based on the size of window in some components (Jog panel and DRO). The sizes is not .5 of anything, they are carefully selected with fixed sizes so that it will prevent the window to get scroll bars. For reference:

Monospaced fonts in the console window, it is a good suggestion. I've added #1621. As for fuzzy fonts, please create a new issue with screen shots of the problem and a spec of your setup.

J-Dunn commented 3 years ago

Thanks for the specific request. Having dug into this it seems it is simply a question of using anti-aliased fonts. That is probably very simple to fix and would not throw out all the good work done in making UGS work of different size and resolution hardware :)

https://github.com/winder/Universal-G-Code-Sender/issues/1622