First off, thank you so much for making and sharing such a great application, I'm a huge fan!
Would it be possible to implement a dark-theme toggle for the UI?
Failing that, open up the possibility to manually set background/table-background colours in the settings file?
I've noticed some font configs, but nothing that indicates a UI-wide colour change?
I frequently start processing while I'm tearing down my equipment in the night and it would be nice to turn down the brightness :)
Thank you again in any case :)
-ML
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ASTAP follows the operating system colours. For Windows 7 you could easily set this. In Win10 and 11 this is done by themes. I use in my observatory still Win 7. Therefore I haven't looked to0 much in the Win 10 themes but download two to test it. As you can see you can still change the colours. Only I haven't found one for suitable night vision.
So what I like to say is I prefer to follow the system theme. In my older versions of my program HNSKY you could set Windows to a night vision but that doesn't work any more so it is removed.
Alternatively you could activate the Windows 10 night mode.
So it is better to look for a good theme or make one. Maybe I will look into this in the next weeks. So an third party solution. If you can find a good one please tell me.
They should be put in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes. If you using Linux or MacOS there are other methods.
That makes sense (I'm running on Win11, I think they changed how themes are handled in that version?).
Attached is a sample of how ASTAP looks against a default Windows dark+accent colour theme (including Windows explorer respecting the dark theme).
In terms of them suggestions; being consistent with NINA might be nice? (https://bitbucket.org/Isbeorn/nina/src/f41494cc2d6f1dcfac4dee06bdc41030b500c7cc/NINA.Core/Utility/ColorSchema/ColorSchema.cs)
Or with APT (https://www.astrophotography.app/usersguide/main.htm?ms=AAAA&q=c2V0dGluZw%3D%3D&st=MQ%3D%3D&sct=MA%3D%3D&mw=MjQw#id_1)
Another thought about putting explicit values in the settings file (or selecting a pre-built theme in the settings file), could be the possibility to launch ASTAP with an argument specifying the settings file to use for that instance (i.e. a "profile" concept?).
For example: start "ASTAP.exe -settings wide.cfg" specifying a red-theme with a field-of-view setting for solving pre-configured for a wide-view scope and cameraA
Alternatively start a different ASTAP (shortcut?) with a different settings file (blue-theme) with a different FOV for a longer focal length scope?
In any case, I appreciate the consideration you're giving this :)
Feel free to let me know if/how I can help with any testing or theme building?
I'm aware of the Nina and APT colour schemes. For the moment I do not want to leave the concept of following Windows colours. But you have highlighted that it doesn't work on Windows 11. That should be fixed. I do not have here a Win11 compatible computer here to test, but I will log in remotely at friends computer and see if I can fix this such that Win11 themes/colours are followed. Give me a few days.
Cheers, Han
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
First off, thank you so much for making and sharing such a great application, I'm a huge fan!
Would it be possible to implement a dark-theme toggle for the UI?
Failing that, open up the possibility to manually set background/table-background colours in the settings file?
I've noticed some font configs, but nothing that indicates a UI-wide colour change?
I frequently start processing while I'm tearing down my equipment in the night and it would be nice to turn down the brightness :)
Thank you again in any case :)
-ML
Thanks for the feedback.
ASTAP follows the operating system colours. For Windows 7 you could easily set this. In Win10 and 11 this is done by themes. I use in my observatory still Win 7. Therefore I haven't looked to0 much in the Win 10 themes but download two to test it. As you can see you can still change the colours. Only I haven't found one for suitable night vision.
So what I like to say is I prefer to follow the system theme. In my older versions of my program HNSKY you could set Windows to a night vision but that doesn't work any more so it is removed.
Alternatively you could activate the Windows 10 night mode.
So it is better to look for a good theme or make one. Maybe I will look into this in the next weeks. So an third party solution. If you can find a good one please tell me.
They should be put in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes. If you using Linux or MacOS there are other methods.
Cheers, Han
With high contrast theme it is already better:
That makes sense (I'm running on Win11, I think they changed how themes are handled in that version?).
Attached is a sample of how ASTAP looks against a default Windows dark+accent colour theme (including Windows explorer respecting the dark theme).
In terms of them suggestions; being consistent with NINA might be nice? (https://bitbucket.org/Isbeorn/nina/src/f41494cc2d6f1dcfac4dee06bdc41030b500c7cc/NINA.Core/Utility/ColorSchema/ColorSchema.cs)
Or with APT (https://www.astrophotography.app/usersguide/main.htm?ms=AAAA&q=c2V0dGluZw%3D%3D&st=MQ%3D%3D&sct=MA%3D%3D&mw=MjQw#id_1)
Another thought about putting explicit values in the settings file (or selecting a pre-built theme in the settings file), could be the possibility to launch ASTAP with an argument specifying the settings file to use for that instance (i.e. a "profile" concept?).
For example: start "ASTAP.exe -settings wide.cfg" specifying a red-theme with a field-of-view setting for solving pre-configured for a wide-view scope and cameraA
Alternatively start a different ASTAP (shortcut?) with a different settings file (blue-theme) with a different FOV for a longer focal length scope?
In any case, I appreciate the consideration you're giving this :)
Feel free to let me know if/how I can help with any testing or theme building?
Thanks again!
-M
I'm aware of the Nina and APT colour schemes. For the moment I do not want to leave the concept of following Windows colours. But you have highlighted that it doesn't work on Windows 11. That should be fixed. I do not have here a Win11 compatible computer here to test, but I will log in remotely at friends computer and see if I can fix this such that Win11 themes/colours are followed. Give me a few days.
Cheers, Han
I tested it in Win11. Normal themes are not followed but high contrast themes are followed. Can you try high contrast settings in Win11?
I posted a quastion in the compiler and GUI forum:
https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,70947.0.html
At the moment I have no other solution then using high contrast settings in Win11.
Han
Confirmed that ASTAP follows the high contrast theme.
I'll play around with it a bit more :)
Thank you again!
-M