UI Styling¶

Atomize uses a shared dark theme for the main workspace, plotting menus and control-center tools. Every tool runs in a separate Qt process, so each entry point must apply the theme to its own QApplication.

Apply the theme¶

The shared implementation is atomize/general_modules/gui_style.py. Apply it before creating the window:

from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication
from atomize.general_modules.gui_style import apply_app_style

app = QApplication(sys.argv)
apply_app_style(app, app_id='Atomize.MainWindow')
window = MainWindow()
window.show()
sys.exit(app.exec())

apply_app_style(app, app_id=None, theme=REFINED_THEME, desktop=False) selects Qt Fusion, installs the theme palette and styles tooltips, menus and separators application-wide. It also supports Windows taskbar identity and Linux desktop integration. Fusion avoids dependence on the native Windows or Linux widget style; visual changes should still be checked on both platforms.

REFINED_THEME is the current default. DEFAULT_THEME and build_styles() remain available for older callers; use build_refined_styles() for the current appearance. Changing a palette alone does not override a widget's explicit stylesheet.

Reuse styles¶

Use the shared sheets instead of copying colour literals into each window:

from atomize.general_modules.gui_style import (
    REFINED_STYLES, BUTTON_STYLE, COMBO_STYLE, DSPIN_STYLE,
    CHECKBOX_STYLE, ANALYSIS_TAB_STYLE,
)

window.setStyleSheet(REFINED_STYLES['WINDOW_STYLE'])
button.setStyleSheet(BUTTON_STYLE)
combo.setStyleSheet(COMBO_STYLE)
spin.setStyleSheet(DSPIN_STYLE)
check.setStyleSheet(CHECKBOX_STYLE)
analysis_tabs.setStyleSheet(ANALYSIS_TAB_STYLE)

When loading a .ui file, apply the shared styles after uic.loadUi(), because the UI file may contain its own stylesheet. SpinBox, ComboBox, LineEdit and TextEdit share the softer input treatment, including editable controls in menus and file dialogs. INPUT_STYLE supplies the application baseline; the dedicated per-widget sheets also include it so local styles cannot restore the old bright fill.

Element	Shared style / convention
Window	`WINDOW_STYLE`; indigo background `#202131`
Buttons	Distinct fill `#34374F`, ordinary outline `#292B40`
Input fields and TextEdit	Muted fill `#26283A`, outline `#292B40`, 2 px corner radius; hover `#30334A`, focus `#2C2F44` with a gold outline
Dense numeric fields	`SPIN_STYLE` / `DSPIN_STYLE` / `COMPACT_FIELD_STYLE`; instrument panels generally use 26 px height
ComboBox	`COMBO_STYLE`, including the popup background and arrow
CheckBox	`CHECKBOX_STYLE`; visible unchecked fill and outline, gold checked indicator
RadioButton	`RADIO_STYLE`; round indicator, gold selected state and a visible unchecked outline
Main actions	`WORKSPACE_ACTION_STYLE`; compact groups stay together when the window grows
Start / Stop	`START_BUTTON_STYLE` / `STOP_BUTTON_STYLE`; yellow/red interaction feedback
Running Start	`PRIMARY_BUTTON_STYLE`; solid gold indicates the running state in the main window
Plot list and Queue	`PLOT_LIST_STYLE`; compact rows, muted selection with gold text and a thin left mark
Plot docks	`DOCK_LABEL_STYLE`, `DOCK_CONTENT_STYLE` and `DOCK_CLOSE_STYLE`; framed header and content
Progress	`PROGRESS_STYLE`; light track fill, gold value to the right
Instrument tabs	`TAB_STYLE`; the page layouts supply their own spacing
Analysis tabs	`ANALYSIS_TAB_STYLE`; adds 8 px side insets and 10 px above the content
Group separators	`SEPARATOR_STYLE`, or `gui_forms.hline()` / `vline()`; muted 1 px rules

Menus and file dialogs¶

MENU_STYLE is applied at application level, so pyqtgraph context menus and embedded axis controls receive the same dark background. The menu bar keeps its bold labels and bottom accent. COMBO_STYLE explicitly styles QComboBox QAbstractItemView: a stylesheet on a combo can otherwise leave its popup using platform defaults.

For Qt file pickers, call the shared helper after constructing the dialog and setting its options:

from atomize.general_modules.gui_style import style_file_dialog

style_file_dialog(dialog)

The existing picker functions use this helper. File-list selection uses a muted background with gold text, while text selection inside editable fields uses a gold fill. These are separate selection treatments.

Bundle the glyphs¶

Keep check.svg, plus.svg, minus.svg and chevron.svg beside gui_style.py. The styles resolve absolute paths from the module location, so the glyphs continue to work after the application changes its working directory. Include all four assets when porting the shared module or building a distribution. Qt's SVG plugin must be available to render them.

Custom themes¶

To customize the palette while retaining the current layout rules, derive a theme and build matching sheets:

from dataclasses import replace
from atomize.general_modules.gui_style import (
    REFINED_THEME, apply_app_style, build_refined_styles,
)

my_theme = replace(REFINED_THEME, accent=(120, 200, 255))
apply_app_style(app, theme=my_theme)
styles = build_refined_styles(my_theme)
button.setStyleSheet(styles['BUTTON_STYLE'])

Convenience constants such as BUTTON_STYLE are generated from REFINED_THEME at import time. Use the returned dictionary for a custom theme. The input_bg, input_hover and input_focus theme fields control the softer input surfaces. Focus takes precedence over hover. Explicit semantic colours, such as Stop feedback and the running-state fill, are defined in the style builder and should be reviewed separately when creating a new colour scheme.

Windows taskbar icon¶

On Windows, a windowed Python process is grouped under python.exe / pythonw.exe in the taskbar, so it shows the generic Python icon instead of the icon set with setWindowIcon(...). Windows decides the taskbar icon from the process AppUserModelID, not from the window icon.

Passing a unique app_id to apply_app_style(...) sets that ID (SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID) before the window appears, so each tool gets its own taskbar button and shows its own icon. Use a stable reverse-dotted string per tool, e.g. 'Atomize.ITC.DataTreatment1D'. The call is a no-op on non-Windows platforms.

Crisp icons

A single small PNG can look fuzzy when Windows scales it to large taskbar sizes. For sharp results use a multi-resolution .ico (16/24/32/48/256 px), or add several sizes to the QIcon via addFile.