arduino / arduino/Arduino

Make it easier to edit the Arduino IDE theme

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#6,454 5 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
accessibility Component: IDE feature request theme
Dominant language
Java
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Description

This topic has come up previously in https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/3056, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/3633, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/6025 and https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/6438 but the latter two topics are more focused on controlling specific properties via the GUI.

This also comes up regularly on the Arduino forum and, as with https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/1878, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/3056, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/3633, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/6025, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/7451, https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/7780 it's almost always an accessibility issue rather than aesthetics so this is important.

I'm sure most users would prefer some sort of a GUI theme editor but I don't know how feasible that would be. This could be a standalone application or added to **File > Preferences**. Offering even the most minimal control of the theme would end up adding quite a few items to Preferences so it would probably be best to add a separate tab, as is already done with the Network settings.

A more simple, if less user friendly option, is to just document the location of the theme files and the function of the various properties. I have made a start at this in the readme of https://github.com/per1234/ThemeTest but it needs some polishing to make it more accessible to the average user. Since this is more advanced information, it might make sense to add it as a page on the [GitHub wiki](https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/wiki). The Arduino Playground is another option.

Below has been solved by https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/pull/7115:
~~A significant problem is that the theme files are stored in the Arduino IDE installation folder and thus any changes to those files will be lost after upgrading to a new version. The solution is to move these files to a persistent location such as the Arduino15 folder, as is already done with preferences.txt.~~

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reviewing the linked prior issues, the ThemeTest README, and the existing File > Preferences and Network settings entry points. The issue leaves the solution open between a GUI editor and documentation, so first define the chosen scope and acceptance criteria before identifying implementation files or tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
accessibility, desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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