It's time for UI update!
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@Mikhail-V said:
Just some thoughts.
I think such exclamations as “let’s change the UI :-D” goes nowhere.
Why just not make some concrete point about UI?All the more, do you realize that you cannot just change the UI,
since this application, I assume, uses a framework or invoke native elements,
therefore you must either:
a) rewrite the whole UI engine so it does not rely on those, or:
b) use other framework (or manipulate the current framework somehow)The issue (from some above screenshots) is that by dark theme you
still have light borders? Well it is not so nice, I agree. But that is
by many apps I have used exactly the same issue.
So there should be a way to change the face color of UI elements globally and
not only the window contents. but it could easily mean radical refactoring
of the softare (= a lot of work).
OTOH, I will not understand in all my life why would one want to use
a dark theme anyway.a) No, since NPP is based off of Scintilla/SCite. There are several other code editors based off of this too like e.g. Komodo Edit (which does have a customized GUI).
b) No, read above -
To the eternal change resistant crowd:
You can keep the menus as there are and have a nicer UI. Refresh the UI doesn’t mean ribbons.
VS Code doesn’t have ribbons, they have menus, and they managed to have something way nicer and modern than Notepad++. I would add a “search action” box to easily find something without having to know by heart all the menus and submenus, and it would be pretty perfect.The only other program that I use that is stuck in the 95-design era is Toad, and all the rest (Intellij Idea, VS Code, Sublime) are way nicer to use on a daily basis. I use Notepad++ as a default editor for text files because it’s super fast, renders nicely whatever you throw at him (json, xml, text, code), and the formatting options are great. But having a way to theme the editor would easily be the next thing I’d want over any new functionality.
Look and Feel IS important for a lot of people, specially when you use a program on a daily basis, and having a dark theme option is something basic these days (all the other editors that I use have it, even the browsers these days).
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someone finally managed to change the UI by a totally dark color?
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@Erik-Soon said:
someone finally managed to change the UI by a totally dark color?
No, unfortunately there seem to be little to no interest in that.
It’s a shame though since NP++ is really great when one have to preserve power since it doesn’t use any resources at all in comparison to other ‘modern’ editors. -
please consider a UWP user interface for windows10, Microsoft release a lot of materials and template in the last year…
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Message for the developer:
You are a programmer, the highest level of tech nerd!
Why are you so scared of change?!
If necessary you could even make an option in the installation wizard to have a modern UI or a lightweight UI, like the choice of icon.(Up/downvote this please, wether you agree with me or not)
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UI improvement is desirable (but a little bit subjective what and how it could be).
IMHO Linux compatibility is a most important requisite to npp. Many users are migrating to Linux, many of them are missing it.
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Please DON’T change the UI to flat Win 10 style. If you have eyesight problems it’s ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!
What you need (and already have) are icons that are cartoony/black-bordered and with bright colors so you can tell them apart at a glance, and toolbars and menus that are gray, so they contrast well with icons’ colors, and which have drawn-out borders, handles, shadows etc, so you can easily tell what is on which toolbar/row.
Meanwhile the fashionable thing is having single-color icons, or bland colors and everything glares and blends together. It’s all probably on a colored toolbar as well because some genius decided gray toolbars are ugly. Or maybe it’s on an eye-searing white background. And so I end up having to lean in every 2 minutes to look, or hover my mouse over every icon to see what’s what. I didn’t even get to the ribbons…
So there’s no new functionality. It’s just making your old editor look cool and hip, and in 5 years time it will be out of date again. It’s not just that UI reinvents itself all the time, it’s that the Win 10 flat style is pretty much the same thing as bad old Windows 3.x. Search the net and see for yourself. In fact, 3.x has strong borders so 10 is actually even worse. So why did they bring it back? To waste the developers’ time, of course.
N++ devs, please don’t waste your time on Win10-type flat interface. Please spend that time making N++ run natively on Linux so I can ditch wine/Windows completely :)
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Hi All,
Can someone point me towards where I can update the gui? I have been reading through the code for a good while now and know where most things are at, but it’s taking me quite a bit. The goal would be to make it black or white with the windows 10 settings and leave the classic ui as an option via checkbox.
I will be doing this for my own sake, but will share the code on my own github page for if anyone wants it. Should people request it I can also add it to a pull request in the future once I am sure that it will not affect the apps current performance.
Regards!
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Are you wanting to change actual code for this??
Why not just use/create/modify a theme ? -
Hi Scott,
I actually want to change the UI similar to the dark theme in visual studio with a few tweaks.
Regards,
Pyre909 -
@Pyre909 I think you would have to recompile it from source in order to make such changes? From the little research i did it seemed liked the colors was hard coded somewhere.
But… you wrote that 2 months ago, what’s the current progress? -
I’m also for a new modern design, Tommie Hansen’s mockup looks pretty well, add some flat icons for the toolbar and it will look sick. I think it will attract a lot of new users too, in using Notepad++, users that are not programmers but do some moderate text manipulations from time to time, and don’t want to use some app that looks like it was made in windows 95 era.
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Cannot believe this this post is 4 years old and there is no 0.01% improvements.
Nowadays this editor looks ported from other OS, way outdated! (In most cases i’m skipping using it) -
feel free to contribute to this open source project.
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Hello from 2020!
Notepad continues to be an outdated UI style.
I switched to another text editor. But there is still little hope that developers will change the UI in 10-30 years, and add a dark style. -
hello, I have only just looked into customizing Npp and have noticed, that UI wise a few things are missing.
yes, the UI could be completely reworked… but i don’t think that’s necessary.
The features I am primarily missing are application background / foreground colors (menu bar, toolbar, status bar, areas inbetween)
aswell as removing that ugly win 95/98/2000 tab border.I have drawn a quick mockup of how that could look.
All of that would of course be options. I would never even consider forcing people to use one style or look over the other. its user choice to go for what suits them best. https://imgur.com/a/IUeYdZG
The next step after what I’ve drawn would be custom icon themes or a greater choice. LibreOffice for example has built in about 5 themes and a few variations of each and is capable on linux to use the system icon theme.
If themes like Breeze (black & white) or Tango were bundled and selectable through the options, that would be a great plus aswell. -
I guess you’d better get working on it.
The project accepts pull-requests.
Good luck; I await the fruits of your labors. -
@Alan-Kilborn I am fully aware of that, however I am not a win32 dev, I have never worked with that UI system and it would be a quite steep learning curve. i am considering to look into it, but I have other more important things to do as of now. Maybe you will see those changes in the future if i do manage to get it done. But for now I was just sharing how i would envision the changes. For others to decide if thats a good plan, and for devs (that actually know how win32 UIs and generally programming works) to get some idea for what to do.
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@Tayou said in It's time for UI update!:
and for devs to get some idea for what to do.
Perhaps the devs already know where they want to focus their efforts for their product, and don’t need big thinkers. Probably what would help is big doers.
but I have other more important things to do as of now.
Well, good thing you could stop by for a few minutes to lay out some future design work for Notepad++.
This post is made in jest, but there is some truth in it as well.
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A Alan Kilborn referenced this topic on
