twislaandClaude Opus 5.5
7fe8b3d22a
Fn+h on any screen, text fields included, and ? outside Text Entry, open a panel over the content area: the screen's own keys, then the ones that work everywhere. Every App declares its keys for the state it is in (pages, viewers, dialogs and text fields answer for themselves); the App manager opens the panel and takes every key while it is open. About 30 hint lines are gone, from every App. What stays on a screen is state. The first-start Setup keeps its hints and teaches the key; a device set up before gets one Toast, once. The guide and the FAQ open with it. `key help` over the consoles. 476 host tests (8 new). Checked on the device with key help and screenshots: the Launcher, all nine Apps and several of their states. 8.5 KB of flash and 40 bytes of static RAM. Decisions Q196 to Q203 in docs/milestones/U1.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EhqxQ49eCju4CzKYNjZzwT
4.5 KiB
+++ title = "Look and feel" description = "The interface is consistent and uncrowded: the same thing is done the same way on every screen, and the 135 pixels of height go to content." weight = 90
[extra] docs = true source = "docs/milestones/U1.md" tag = "U1" +++ Status: in progress. The help key (issue #69) is built and checked on the device, in a pull request. Screen recording (#17) and the rest of the milestone are not started.
Goal: the interface is consistent and uncrowded: the same thing is done the same way on every screen, and the 135 pixels of height go to content.
The help key (issue #69)
Every screen used to say something about its keys, differently: a footer of abbreviations in one place (c x v:paste r:name d:del n:new i:info s:sort), a line under a text field in another (Enter: save \: cancel), Tab: sky` in a corner, and nothing at all in several. About 30 such strings, each costing a line of a small screen, and none of them complete.
Decisions (design round 2026-10-07)
| # | Decision |
|---|---|
| Q196 | Fn+h, on every screen, text fields included (Fn is held, so nothing is typed). ? too, outside Text Entry. |
| Q197 | It opens a panel over the content area, titled with where you are: the screen's own keys, then an "Everywhere" group (Back, Home, the arrows, the help key). The arrows scroll it; any other key closes it and is not passed on. |
| Q198 | Each App answers "what are your keys right now?" for the state it is in; pages, viewers, dialogs and text fields answer for themselves, with shared lists for dialogs, lists and text entry. The lists are constants; the panel's rows exist only while it is open. |
| Q199 | Every hint that names a key goes, text fields included. What stays is state: REC 12 points, LOG 42, sort:signal, typing/saved, what is waiting to be pasted, the Sweep's floor. Messages were reworded where they named a key ("v pastes a copy of…" is "Copied …: paste it where you like"). |
| Q200 | The first-start Setup keeps its hints, and is the one place that does: someone in their first minute doesn't know the help key yet. It tells them about it on its first and last screens. |
| Q201 | Loud everywhere else: the user guide opens with it, the FAQ has it first, and a device set up before this firmware gets one Toast, once: "Fn+h: the keys of any screen". |
| Q202 | key help over the consoles. Generating the website's key tables from the same lists is a follow-up, not this issue. |
| Q203 | The key and the panel first, host-tested; then one App at a time, declaring its keys and losing its hints in the same step; then every screen looked at on the device. |
As built
Key::Helpfrom the key mapper: Fn+h in both modes,?only outside Text Entry (lib/input, 3 tests).App::help()andApp::helpTitle()(lib/core/src/app.h),KeyHelprows andHelpModel(key_help.h). The App manager opens the panel, appends the "Everywhere" group, and while it is open takes every key: nothing reaches the App, Home included. It closes when the App changes (5 tests).- Every App declares its keys by state: the Launcher, IRC (chat, settings, a field), Wi-Fi Tools (4 views), GNSS, Gemini (page, saved page, address, answer, dialogs), the LoRa Scanner (4 views), Storage (browse, details, a name, the viewer's 6 modes, the editor, Maintenance, busy), Notes (list, editor, a file name), System (5 views), Settings (menu, text, choice, and the Wi-Fi, Firmware and Debug Console pages with their own states), Setup and the widget demo.
- The hints are gone from all of them. The footers that remain say state only.
- It costs 8.5 KB of flash and 40 bytes of static RAM.
Checks
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| Host tests | 476 pass (468 before) |
On the device, key help and a screenshot |
The Launcher and all nine Apps, and these states: Storage scrolled, System's tasks, a Settings text field, Wi-Fi Tools' networks. The panel is titled with the scope, lists the right keys, scrolls, and closes on Tab |
| The one-time Toast | notification: Fn+h: the keys of any screen on the first start after the update |
Not checked: the real Fn+h and ? on the keyboard (the mapper is host-tested; the device was driven with key help); the Setup screens, which only a device that was never set up shows, so their new text has not been seen on a screen; and the states that need something to happen first (a dialog, a copy in progress, a Gemini prompt, a packet's details): their lists were read against the key handling, not looked at.