Design overhaul of calendar app

[fm-sys]

Hi there,

Coming from the Google Calendar app, I’ve been looking for a FOSS alternative. While I’ve found solid options in terms of functionality (like yours), I haven’t seen one that feels visually polished and pleasant to use.

Instead of forking and making changes privately, I’d like to contribute UI/UX improvements directly to this project. I realize this approach requires more collaboration and alignment, but I believe it will ultimately benefit both the community and long-term maintainability.

Before I get started, I’d like to ask:

Is there general interest in UI/UX contributions?

Would it be acceptable to submit PRs directly (with before/after screenshots and one PR per change) rather than opening an issue for each proposal first? This workflow would make things a lot easier for me, while still leaving room to discuss, improve, and either accept or discard each change.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

[naveensingh]

Hi!

Is there general interest in UI/UX contributions?

Yes, but it's also not a priority as of now. Design overhauls (theming, etc.) are done together in all Fossify apps to keep things consistent across the suite. Minor changes like icon updates are likely to get accepted.

Would it be acceptable to submit PRs directly (with before/after screenshots and one PR per change) rather than opening an issue for each proposal first? This workflow would make things a lot easier for me, while still leaving room to discuss, improve, and either accept or discard each change.

In Fossify, there are strict rules, and nearly every change is tracked through issues because it helps with prioritization, future reference, and allows community feedback (if any). Rejecting PRs directly leads to more net work for everyone, as someone might spend a week working on something only to get it rejected. You will already find similar requests that aren't yet accepted here: https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/issues?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc%20is%3Aissue%20is%3Aopen%20label%3A%22feature%20request%22

Contribution guidelines: https://github.com/FossifyOrg/General-Discussion#contributing-code

But I am curious, what changes are you looking to implement?

[fm-sys]

Contribution guidelines

I've actually have read the Contribution guidelines first, that's why I want to clarify some things with you. 😇

The primary reason why I suggested the PR only approach is that I believe it's only possible to discuss design changes when seeing some pictures, and I'll have them ready just as soon as I'm about to open the PR. However, I could also open issue+PR pairs together.

Design overhauls (theming, etc.) are done together in all Fossify apps

I believe my wishlist is not mayor enough that it'll change the overall branding so I would say it should be fine. That's the list of changes, ordered by personal annoyance: 😅

• event list widget overhaul (the current widget just looks messy and even doesn't match the widget preview)

• "go to today" is sometimes hidden and sometimes visible. While I get the idea this prevents learning where to click for the "change view" action bar button. Therefore always show it or make sure the other buttons at least don't move around (not the same but somehow related: Option to auto-scroll to current time in day and week views Calendar#296)

• Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu instead of M, T, W, T to make week days identifyable easier (Three word "Day name" Calendar#103)

• calender entries of the next months are presented grayed out. Unfortunately that conflicts with the color coding of past events. Therefore just gray out the day numbers of the next month

• calender entries are using inconsistent style: Sharp edges in week view but rounded edges in month view. Make them rounded everywhere and round them slightly more (Rounded corners in weekly view for better separation Calendar#100)

• having the grid enabled looks like a 20 years old excel table while having grid hidden makes orientation difficult. I would suggest using some kind of different gray tones, like Google calendar does as well (clicking on the image will open it full size):

• (I can imagine merging "Monthly view" and "Monthly and daily view" where a scroll up gesture in months view would smoothly transform to combi view... Swipe up to show event list Calendar#117)

• (the calendar app has no screen to just view a single appointment without editing it. I somehow doesn't feel comfortable with it, but I still have to find out why and what could be done better. So that point is still in an early stage...Clicking on event in widget go to editing instead of a view Calendar#171)

[fm-sys]

Some things are btw already tracked in the issues, some of them triaged, some of them not. Added links to the individual issues as far as I could find them.

[naveensingh]

event list widget overhaul (the current widget just looks messy and even doesn't match the widget preview)

Related issues: FossifyOrg/Calendar#98, FossifyOrg/Calendar#144.

The list widget definitely needs some improvements, but the design is not yet finalized.

calender entries of the next months are presented grayed out. Unfortunately that conflicts with the color coding of past events. Therefore just gray out the day numbers of the next month

having the grid enabled looks like a 20 years old excel table while having grid hidden makes orientation difficult. I would suggest using some kind of different gray tones, like Google calendar does as well

Please feel free to file requests for these.

[fm-sys]

Probably I'll just spin up a fork, where I can modify the UI the way I like. Primarily, I want to code instead of dealing with discussions. 😇

If I'll encounter and fix bugs on the way, I can contribute them back to the original repo for sure.

[naveensingh]

I can modify the UI the way I like

Yeah, a fork is the right path for that. It'll be slower here, and you might still not get all the changes you want anyway.

If I'll encounter and fix bugs on the way, I can contribute them back to the original repo for sure.

Sounds good.

[neoscaler]

As a user coming from the Google apps I can only also emphasize that design UI/UX is the biggest shortcoming in the Fossiy Apps. They are working great, but don't feel very polished.