RFE: E-Ink theme

[dotancohen]

The extant RedReader themes are not suitable for E-Ink devices. Many buttons are unable to be read in any theme, among other smaller issues. May I suggest that an 8-level greyscale theme be added to RedReader?

I did try the OLED focused Ultra Black theme, but I found it unsuitable for E-Ink devices for the following reasons:

1. The background is black. E-Ink devices work best with a light background and dark foreground.
2. Many buttons and menus are not visible. As an example, in Settings -> Appearance -> Theme I can not actually see anything inside the dialogue box that pops up. This is the case with all themes, not just Ultra Black.
3. After updating I had to accept the new Reddit terms. But the buttons in the RedReader UI were completely invisible in all themes.
4. When submitting a comment, the popup just looks blank. I suppose something is written there, but I can not see it. All themes.
5. When long pressing a comment, the context menu is the same colour as the background and has no border. It is very difficult to make out the boundaries of this context menu. All themes.

I expect that there are other problems that I do not know about, simply because I cannot see them!

I am using RedReader version 1.23.1, to which I upgraded from whatever was current in February 2023. That February 2023 version has these same issues, I upgraded specifically to see if things had gotten better.

[folkemat]

Do you know an Android app that simulates your display colours? I don't have an E-Ink device to test

[dotancohen]

Thank you. I have searched online and found that the Developer Options of Android enable one to set the screen colours as monochrome.

If you would like to add a theme using the colours stated below, prominent borders, and high contrast, I would be happy to test.

#000000
#333333
#666666
#999999
#CCCCCC
#FFFFFF

[dotancohen]

I appreciate the RedReader team's interest in accessibility. Thank you!

[folkemat]

Thank you. I have searched online and found that the Developer Options of Android enable one to set the screen colours as monochrome.

I can activate a black and white mode on my Android 12, but it has a lot more than 8 shades of grey, and Redreader still looks good. I would need an app or option that limits the display to 8 shades of grey, and unfortunately I haven't found anything like that

[QuantumBadger]

It might be easiest to take a screenshot in full colour, and then use an image editor to convert it to 3-bit/1-bit monochrome to see how it looks.

[dotancohen]

Thank you, I asked on the E-Ink Reddit sub:

https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/1atoeed/which_greyscale_colours_should_an_application/

EDIT: A commenter on that question had some good tips:

I think apps are easier to navigate when they're mostly black and white with minimal grayscale. This helps maximize contrast. There's a VS Code theme called High Contrast for E Ink that you could reference.

Here are ideas for an e-ink friendly design system. Use solid black borders with a white background for UI elements. Invert color for UI elements you want to bring attention to, like a call-to-action button or tooltip. Check the contrast ratio for any grayscale elements. Indicate hover and active states by varying the border thickness, border style (dotted/dashed), or by using a shade of gray. Use outlined or filled icons. Prefer pagination over scrolling.