#31 Add feature to colour tasks and task groups

[Brendan Simon]

I'd like to add a feature request to be able to select colours for tasks, ranges of tasks, so it is easier to see groups or special tasks. The parent tasks should also be able to be coloured. Maybe a background colour highlight could work better, rather than a foreground colour ?? Having the option to set both would be good :) The colour should apply across the spreadsheet and the gantt chart (and/or selectable).

[Laurent Chretienneau]

The Gantt bars are configurable. Unfortunately there is no user interface to change that for now.
If you want to change the shape and colors of the bars you can edit com/projity/configuration/views.xml in projeclibre.jar.
For example for summary tasks:

    <format id="Bar.summary" row="1" layer="1" intervalGenerator="com.projity.pm.graphic.gantt.GanttBarIntervalGenerator"  from="Field.start" to="Field.finish">
        <start shapeName="PENTAGON_DOWN" colorName="BLACK" paintName="SOLID" />
        <middle shapeName="HALF_HEIGHT_TOP" colorName="BLACK" paintName="SOLID"/>
        <end shapeName="PENTAGON_DOWN" colorName="BLACK" paintName="SOLID"/>
    </format>

[MOLNÁR Géza]

Does this define the format of all the bars?
As I understand, the idea is that to set different colors (bold, italic etc.) for different tasks. First manually, later by some conditions (e.g. finished, milestones, resource, user flag, due, etc.)
Then filter may have 2 options: a) only show the filtered rows, b) show the filtered rows in different color (i.e. marked, maybe also selected).
I'm visual :-)

[noel_d3]

Because we never use priorities, colors is the one thing we miss the most about this program.

[blackorzar]

I think that changing the color of the task name is good enough for our use cases.
Another option would be to be able to add a column called color where we can pick the color. That column would save the string colo name (or rgb) so it doesn't make the file unusable in MS Project. This can be an icon if you want to polish it even more.

[chuck]

Color coding is also very useful for when you have a separate copy of a project and want to tag lines that need to be applied to the Master project, or discussed with the team. I have seen the color coding used quite frequently on various projects that used MS Project. Some of the other reasons discussed already are valid reasons too.

[TobboT]

+1 Differently colored bars woulkd make complicated charts easier to read. Only changing font color wouldn't be quite enough I think.
Many thanks for the great work!

[Nick Faregran]

+1

Any option -Font color, task description background, etc.- even keeping blue and red in Gantt, will be an improvement.

I like the idea of color column.

[Scott Jennings]

At a minimum the option to color rows or columns would be beneficial and helpful. The ability to change bar colors also helps as it can differentiate between Design, Preconstruction and Construction activities.

[Cristian]

I agree with the proposal to let the user to choose a color for any task/activity.
Many users ask me this feature.

I understand the reasons for having automatic blue and reds background colors, but I guess we should allow the user to make their own choices...

I guess we should allow the user to have an alternate Gantt view with custom colors.

Just my 2 cents.

[Christopher J Canario]

Has any work been done to add color options for task names?

This is a feature I have used in MS Project and P6 time and time again.

Really hope this can become an option soon.

[T Z]

Colour option would be a great thing. Please consider adding this option. Good looking charts can make a big difference in understanding complicated matter.

[T Z]

Are the devs still considering or isn't there any hope for this feature?

[Tahoeob]

There was a contribution that has some configuration. It will not currently be included. The code is very complex and breaks other items. There is an arguement that the critical path and crashing the schedule is easier with standard red for critical, blue for non-critical. We understand the need for flexibility. It will be awhile.

[Pablo Weder]

From My point of view this is a very importan feature to add. Is it planned to be included in the near future?

[Tahoeob]

Thanks Pablo and TZ.... it won't be soon as our bug fixes and other items are well backlogged. We are looking to add developers from the community so perhaps it gets added sooner if we add developers