Bug 165199

Summary:	Analog clock difficult to read with dark theme
Product:	[Unmaintained] plasma4	Reporter:	Dotan Cohen <kde-2011.08>
Component:	widget-clock	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	normal	CC:	andresbajotierra, aseigo
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	unspecified
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	Proposed simple patch. Enlarge clockhands if the rect is < 120px Screenshot: Small clock on panel with the patch applied

Description Dotan Cohen 2008-06-28 16:40:09 UTC

Version:            (using KDE 4.0.83)
OS:                Linux

In the default dark KDE4 theme, switching the panel clock to an analog clock make the clock difficult to read. The dark colours are all too similar and one must squint to read it.

In addition to using different colours, I suggest that the clock be designed such that the minute hand is as distinctive and as long as possible, even it if means obscuring the number indicators somewhat. Otherwise, the clock (and thus, the entire panel) must be enlarged to ridiculous proportions just to be readable. Thanks.

Comment 1 Aaron J. Seigo 2008-11-10 10:27:29 UTC

can you provide a screenshot of the problem with the colours being too dark? thanks.

Comment 2 Aaron J. Seigo 2008-11-19 04:46:41 UTC

ah, i see! yes, this is a theme issue and it's pretty well resolved in trunk imho.

Comment 3 Dotan Cohen 2009-03-17 13:45:01 UTC

This issue is far from resolved! Sitting a reasonable distance from the monitor, I cannot read the time on the analog clock. I must squint and push my face forward to read the time. See this screenshot from the Kubuntu bugtracker, with the clock in the corner at the bottom:
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/23997520/video_smearing.png

Comment 4 Dario Andres 2009-03-20 12:58:24 UTC

May be the SVG shadows can be hidden, and the clock hands can be enlarged when the analog clock size is < some small size ( like when it's in a Panel ), to improve readability.

Comment 5 Dario Andres 2009-03-20 13:30:53 UTC

Created attachment 32283 [details]
Proposed simple patch. Enlarge clockhands if the rect is < 120px

Comment 6 Dario Andres 2009-03-20 13:31:44 UTC

Created attachment 32284 [details]
Screenshot: Small clock on panel with the patch applied

Comment 7 Dario Andres 2009-03-20 14:00:00 UTC

SVN commit 941717 by darioandres:

Enlarge the clock hands if the rect size is < KIconLoader::SizeEnormous (currently 128px)
Improves readability on small analog clocks
Patch approved by notmart

BUG: 165199


 M  +5 -0      clock.cpp  


WebSVN link: http://websvn.kde.org/?view=rev&revision=941717

Comment 8 Dotan Cohen 2009-03-20 14:01:26 UTC

Thank you Dario, the clock with the patch is much easier to read.

Why not increase the size of the whole clock, and trim the upper / lower portions of it that are not essential to reading the time, as proposed in this bug:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=165416

Comment 9 Dario Andres 2009-03-20 14:06:30 UTC

I'm going to mark this as fixed as the originally reported bug is fixed now. Bug 165416 is another proposal and it should be discussed (that isn't something I can do alone now...)
Thanks

Comment 10 Dario Andres 2009-03-20 14:07:20 UTC

SVN commit 941722 by darioandres:

Backport to 4.2branch of:
SVN commit 941717 by darioandres:

Enlarge the clock hands if the rect size is < KIconLoader::SizeEnormous
(currently 128px)
Improves readability on small analog clocks
Patch approved by notmart

CCBUG: 165199


 M  +5 -0      clock.cpp  


WebSVN link: http://websvn.kde.org/?view=rev&revision=941722

Comment 11 Dotan Cohen 2009-03-20 15:27:21 UTC

Thanks, Dario!