QuantumBadger / QuantumBadger/RedReader

RFE: E-Ink theme

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Dominant language
Java
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Description

The extant RedReader themes are not suitable for E-Ink devices. Many buttons are unable to be read in any theme, among other smaller issues. May I suggest that an 8-level greyscale theme be added to RedReader?

I did try the OLED focused Ultra Black theme, but I found it unsuitable for E-Ink devices for the following reasons:

  1. The background is black. E-Ink devices work best with a light background and dark foreground.
  2. Many buttons and menus are not visible. As an example, in Settings -> Appearance -> Theme I can not actually see anything inside the dialogue box that pops up. This is the case with all themes, not just Ultra Black.
  3. After updating I had to accept the new Reddit terms. But the buttons in the RedReader UI were completely invisible in all themes.
  4. When submitting a comment, the popup just looks blank. I suppose something is written there, but I can not see it. All themes.
  5. When long pressing a comment, the context menu is the same colour as the background and has no border. It is very difficult to make out the boundaries of this context menu. All themes.

I expect that there are other problems that I do not know about, simply because I cannot see them!

I am using RedReader version 1.23.1, to which I upgraded from whatever was current in February 2023. That February 2023 version has these same issues, I upgraded specifically to see if things had gotten better.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported problems on an E-Ink device using the existing themes, especially Ultra Black, and inspect the Settings → Appearance → Theme dialog, comment submission popup, and long-press context menu. Review how the current themes define backgrounds, foregrounds, buttons, menus, and borders. Done means an added 8-level greyscale theme makes these UI elements visibly distinguishable on E-Ink while preserving the existing theme choices.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, java
Domain
accessibility, design, mobile
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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