Start Page Redesign

[kkremitzki]

I got the automatic height and width adjustment of the new half-width panes to behave better under small resolutions. I think this is good enough for a PR at this point so: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/pull/607

Sometime in the future I can revisit the "add preview thumbnail in recent files" and "right-side description pane is blank by default" issues, and add other features, especially after some feedback once this gets merged.

[triplus]

Sounds good and thanks for investing the effort in this area.

[yorik]

People, since QWebKit has been ported to Qt5, nothing prevents us to continue using HTML for the startpage. So I've pushed forward and redesigned the whole start center. The new version can be tested in this branch: https://github.com/yorikvanhavre/FreeCAD/tree/startpage

Screenshot from 2018-08-05 15-48-26.png (109.4 KiB) Viewed 1682 times

Screenshot from 2018-08-05 15-48-39.png (149.65 KiB) Viewed 1682 times

Screenshot from 2018-08-05 15-48-49.png (138.71 KiB) Viewed 1682 times

Screenshot from 2018-08-05 15-49-23.png (122.76 KiB) Viewed 1682 times

It is now pretty much themable, translatable and configurable (for example a company or a school could use their own html file), and you can have it launch your favorite WB after clicking a document. The file icons used are taken from your own system. Basically I think it's ready for merging now. Hope you'll like!

[Jee-Bee]

First impression... Looks Good!

[NormandC]

It looks great, except for the background colour

Good things we'll be able to change it.

It is now pretty much themable

At some point, how about loading the start page colors from a Stylesheet drop down like the General/General tab, with at least two minimal CSS files, one Light and one Dark in ./FreeCAD/Gui/Stylesheets? While also allowing changing the options individually? I'm not sure if that would be doable.

[yorik]

I changed the colors to suit my desktop theme. The default is light grey and white. I was too lazy to change back to default for these screenshots...

At some point, how about loading the start page colors from a Stylesheet drop down like the General/General tab, with at least two minimal CSS files, one Light and one Dark in ./FreeCAD/Gui/Stylesheets? While also allowing changing the options individually? I'm not sure if that would be doable.

I'm not sure either. It's all html, it's themable with css, but I'm not sure how/if the qt stylesheets can be used...

[NormandC]

I changed the colors to suit my desktop theme. The default is light grey and white.

I'm relieved

It's all html, it's themable with css, but I'm not sure how/if the qt stylesheets can be used...

I was not thinking of using .qss file, but just saving .css files specific to the StartPage inside the same Stylesheets folder in the user's Home. The idea is for end users to be able to theme it if they wish, and to not have to write files under /usr/... But I think this could be a long-term goal.

[yorik]

In theory, the qss contains css code... If it would be loaded with the html, most of it wouldn't apply to our html page, but I think it would still parse correctly. So maybe additional rules added to the qss, specifically aimed at the start page, would work? This needs some experiment...

[regis]

People, since QWebKit has been ported to Qt5, nothing prevents us to continue using HTML for the startpage. So I've pushed forward and redesigned the whole start center. The new version can be tested in this branch: https://github.com/yorikvanhavre/FreeCAD/tree/startpage

It is now pretty much themable, translatable and configurable (for example a company or a school could use their own html file), and you can have it launch your favorite WB after clicking a document. The file icons used are taken from your own system. Basically I think it's ready for merging now. Hope you'll like!

Looking great so far from my point.

[triplus]

Looking forward to see it as a part of regular FreeCAD update process.