[Feature request] Weather plugin - easy to read version - larger text/no icons/limited information

[alexmassen-hane]

Hello,

Could there please be an easy to read version of the weather plugin? For example; larger font size, no icons, reduced information, so that it can be easily see it from a distance.

The plan is to eventually put the 7.3 inch display I have somewhere in my mum's house so that she can quickly see the temperature for the day and the forecast, but she is elderly and is hard of sight and she's said she can't easily see the information on the current version of the weather plugin.

I'm a software developer myself (mostly backend) and had a quick go at modifying the CSS with an additional "no-icons" variable that comes from the settings page of the plugin, but modifying the existing template is problematic and getting everything to display correctly and have something that looks clean is particularly challenging.

Perhaps it could be a "simple" version with just the date, current temperature/feels like, and the forecast for the next day?

Kind regards,
Alex

[saulob]

Hi Alex,

I actually built a simplified version of the weather plugin inspired by this exact need.

It focuses on larger text, reduced information and better readability from a distance, especially for e-paper displays.

Here’s a preview:

I’ll be opening a PR for this soon

Would love your feedback 🙂

[saulob]

Hi @alexmassen-hane ,

Quick update, I added the date to the layout and opened a PR for this plugin: #637

Would love your thoughts on it

[alexmassen-hane]

Hi @saulob,

The screenshot of it looks good! I am more than willing to try it on my device. Please let me know when you add it to a different repo so I can pull it in as a 3rd party plugin - I can't seem to checkout the branch since the PR was closed.

Actually, would you mind adding a toggle on the plugin settings page that would remove the icons and would then make the font a little larger to fill the extra space?

[saulob]

Hi @alexmassen-hane , thanks a lot for the feedback

I’ll move the plugin into a separate repository and publish it as a third-party plugin soon, then I will share the link so you can try it

That toggle is a really good idea, I will add it

[dJason]

I've been working on something similar by removing the daily temperature/precipitation graph and enlarging everything else.
Since I removed the precipitation graph, I added an icon and precipitation amount to today and the forecast. Might need some tweaking as I've been rendering it for my 10" B&W display, but the CSS and HTML are attached here to try out. Tested with OpenWeather, OpenMeteo should have the same information but didn't validate there.
weather.html
weather.css

[saulob]

Hi @alexmassen-hane,

I moved it to a separate third-party repo and added the toggle you suggested

https://github.com/saulob/InkyPi-Mini-Weather

Thanks again for the idea, I’d love to hear what you think after trying it

[alexmassen-hane]

Hi @saulob,

I think it looks good! Though I asked my mother to have a look at it but she unfortunately says she has trouble seeing the temperature forecast for the next few days. :/

I know I'm asking for more sorry, but perhaps the number of forecast days could be selected in the settings page for the plugin and then have the font size scaled so that the table rows fit in the same space as what you have for n=4?

FYI this is what it looks like on the display I have.

[saulob]

Hi @alexmassen-hane

Thanks for the feedback, that helps a lot
Also thanks for the photo, really nice to see it on another real device 🙂

I will improve readability by increasing font sizes and spacing since there is more space available

I will also add a setting to choose the number of forecast days, with the layout scaling accordingly

Will update soon 👍

[saulob]

Hi @alexmassen-hane

Thanks again for the feedback and for sharing the photo, it helped a lot

I made a new round of improvements:

• increased the overall scale and readability
• enlarged the forecast row text and spacing
• added a setting to choose the number of forecast days
• adjusted the layout so it scales better depending on the selected number of rows
• also fixed an issue where the weekday labels in the forecast rows could be incorrect in some cases

To update, you can just install the plugin again using the same install command

[alexmassen-hane]

Hi @saulob

It looks great! My mother can easily read it now.
Thank you for working on it :)

[saulob]

Hi @saulob

It looks great! My mother can easily read it now. Thank you for working on it :)

Hi @alexmassen-hane

Glad to hear that, really happy it’s easier to read now 😊

Thanks a lot for testing it on a real device and sharing the photo, it helped improve the plugin a lot

[rowanmoor]

I think I prefer it to the standard weather plugin. One thing I have noticed, the standard plugin has colorful icons. This one only seems to have black and white. Could we have colored icons for displays that have color, please?

[saulob]

I think I prefer it to the standard weather plugin. One thing I have noticed, the standard plugin has colorful icons. This one only seems to have black and white. Could we have colored icons for displays that have color, please?

Good point, glad you noticed that

The original idea was to keep the design very minimal and avoid drawing too much attention to the icons, focusing more on the temperatures and numbers for better readability on e-paper displays

That said, adding colored icons for displays that support color makes total sense, I can add this as an optional setting so users can choose between minimal black and white or colored icons depending on their preference and hardware

[rowanmoor]

That sounds perfect.

[rowanmoor]

I find colored icons easier to identify from across the room. But I can see how it would make it harder on a BW display, so an option is a great idea.

[saulob]

I find colored icons easier to identify from across the room. But I can see how it would make it harder on a BW display, so an option is a great idea.

I’ve just added a new setting called Colorful icons that enables colored icons for displays that support color

You can just update the plugin and give it a try

Thanks a lot for the idea, it really improved the experience 👍

[rowanmoor]

That is brilliant and works perfectly. Thank you.