[PATCH v2 0/6] gitk: make color preferences visually more pleasing and better usable
- From
Johannes Sixt via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
- Date
- Aug 12, 2026, 13:16 UTC
- Message-ID
- <pull.2194.v2.git.1786540582.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <pull.2194.git.1785998419.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
I find the user interface to set the color preferences a bit ugly for these reasons:
* The color samples are not clickable as one would expect who enters the dialog. Instead, the description is the button that must be clicked.
* Since the descriptive texts are different for the preferences, the width of the buttons are different, too.
* The descriptions themselves are not always natural language (read: they are nerdy) and use abbreviations.
This series makes the descriptions static text and turns the color samples into the clickable buttons. It also makes the descriptions and dialog titles more natural language.
Changes since v1:
* Apply a thicker border to the buttons and some vertical distance between the lines. * Remove "Diff" from the labels, because they are sufficiently unambiguous without. * Fine-tune the wording of the labels for better English. * Move selection and link colors above diff colors. * Tweak the commit messages.
This is the dialog before the change: Screenshot_color_buttons_before [https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/910a647f-4e56-47b0-b4c4-e6e7bc966e9c] And this is the dialog after the change: Screenshot_color_buttons_after_v2 [https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9c0fae28-727a-4bdd-9d76-36e276217322]
Johannes Sixt (6): gitk: set intitial colors of swatches using the available helper gitk: condense repetitive code around color buttons into foreach loops gitk: show color preferences on the button instead of the label gitk: use more natural language for labels of color preferences gitk: avoid constructing dialog titles from text pieces gitk: move UI for generic colors above diff colors
gitk-git/gitk | 123 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------------- 1 file changed, 59 insertions(+), 64 deletions(-)
base-commit: a97fcc37c2bc6340a8d7ce78dedf227aac4e9aa7 Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2194%2Fj6t%2Fgitk-prefs-color-buttons-v2 Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2194/j6t/gitk-prefs-color-buttons-v2 Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2194
Range-diff vs v1:
1: ab16ec6276 ! 1: e7e62f428b gitk: set intitial colors of swatches using the available helper
@@ Commit message
gitk: set intitial colors of swatches using the available helper
After the user has selected a color in the Preferences dialog, the
- helper proc prefspage_set_colorswatches is used update the colors shown
- in the Preferences dialog. Use this proc also after the Preferences
- dialog is constructed to show the initial colors. This keeps the
+ helper proc prefspage_set_colorswatches is used to update the colors
+ shown in the Preferences dialog. Use this proc also to show the initial
+ colors after the Preferences dialog is constructed. This keeps the
procedure that gives the UI elements their colors in a single place.
Signed-off-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
2: edb567608e = 2: 52dacc4924 gitk: condense repetitive code around color buttons into foreach loops
3: 0428a92efc ! 3: 75202a52d7 gitk: show color preferences on the button instead of the label
@@ gitk-git/gitk: proc prefspage_colors {notebook} {
- label $page.$uielem -padx 40 -relief sunk
- ttk::button $page.${uielem}btn -text $label \
+ ttk::label $page.$uielem -text $label
-+ button $page.${uielem}btn -padx 40 -pady 0 \
++ button $page.${uielem}btn -padx 40 -pady 0 -borderwidth 2 \
-command [list choosecolor $colorvar $idx $page $title]
- grid x $page.${uielem}btn $page.$uielem -sticky w
-+ grid x $page.$uielem $page.${uielem}btn -sticky w
++ grid x $page.$uielem $page.${uielem}btn -sticky w -pady 1
}
grid columnconfigure $page 2 -weight 1
4: ce417701a8 ! 4: 45d5b05281 gitk: use more natural language for labels of color preferences
@@ Commit message
gitk: use more natural language for labels of color preferences
The labels used to be clickable buttons. These would have looked funny
- if they carried long texts. For this reason, abbreviations and "nerdy"
- texts were used to keep them short. Since these labels are now static
- text, bring them closer to natural language.
+ if they carried long texts. For this reason, jargon and abbreviations
+ were used to keep them short. Since there is no button frame around the
+ labels anymore, the texts can become longer without becoming ugly.
+ Bring them closer to natural language.
+
+ Remove the prefix "Diff" from labels, because the remaining texts are
+ sufficiently unambiguous that they are about diff text.
Signed-off-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
@@ gitk-git/gitk: proc prefspage_colors {notebook} {
+ [mc "Main text"] \
[mc "foreground"] \
diffold diffcolors 0 \
- [mc "Diff: old lines"] \
+- [mc "Diff: old lines"] \
++ [mc "Old line text"] \
[mc "diff old lines"] \
diffoldbg diffbgcolors 0 \
- [mc "Diff: old lines bg"] \
-+ [mc "Diff: old lines background"] \
++ [mc "Old line background"] \
[mc "diff old lines bg"] \
diffnew diffcolors 1 \
- [mc "Diff: new lines"] \
+- [mc "Diff: new lines"] \
++ [mc "New line text"] \
[mc "diff new lines"] \
diffnewbg diffbgcolors 1 \
- [mc "Diff: new lines bg"] \
-+ [mc "Diff: new lines background"] \
++ [mc "New line background"] \
[mc "diff new lines bg"] \
hunksep diffcolors 2 \
- [mc "Diff: hunk header"] \
-+ [mc "Diff: hunk headers"] \
++ [mc "Hunk header text"] \
[mc "diff hunk header"] \
markbg markbgcolor {} \
- [mc "Marked line bg"] \
-+ [mc "Marked lines background"] \
++ [mc "Marked line background"] \
[mc "marked line background"] \
selbg selectbgcolor {} \
- [mc "Select bg"] \
5: 1e1bcfaf5b ! 5: 697159c20e gitk: avoid constructing dialog titles from text pieces
@@ gitk-git/gitk: proc prefspage_colors {notebook} {
- [mc "foreground"] \
+ [mc "choose main text color"] \
diffold diffcolors 0 \
- [mc "Diff: old lines"] \
+ [mc "Old line text"] \
- [mc "diff old lines"] \
+ [mc "choose text color of old lines"] \
diffoldbg diffbgcolors 0 \
- [mc "Diff: old lines background"] \
+ [mc "Old line background"] \
- [mc "diff old lines bg"] \
+ [mc "choose background color of old lines"] \
diffnew diffcolors 1 \
- [mc "Diff: new lines"] \
+ [mc "New line text"] \
- [mc "diff new lines"] \
+ [mc "choose text color of new lines"] \
diffnewbg diffbgcolors 1 \
- [mc "Diff: new lines background"] \
+ [mc "New line background"] \
- [mc "diff new lines bg"] \
+ [mc "choose background color of new lines"] \
hunksep diffcolors 2 \
- [mc "Diff: hunk headers"] \
+ [mc "Hunk header text"] \
- [mc "diff hunk header"] \
-+ [mc "choose hunk header color"] \
++ [mc "choose text color of hunk headers"] \
markbg markbgcolor {} \
- [mc "Marked lines background"] \
+ [mc "Marked line background"] \
- [mc "marked line background"] \
+ [mc "choose background color of marked lines"] \
selbg selectbgcolor {} \
-: ---------- > 6: 36590e857d gitk: move UI for generic colors above diff colors-- gitgitgadget