Appearance
The Appearance page decides how everything Input.Observer draws on your screen looks: the trail that follows a gesture, the hint that names the action while you draw, and the messages that actions show. It also holds the theme and the language of Input.Observer itself.
The page
The page has a list of sections on the left and the selected section's settings on the right. Each section in the list shows a one-line summary of its current settings, and a count such as "2 changed" when some of its settings differ from their defaults.
| Section | What it controls | Shown in |
|---|---|---|
| Theme & language | The light or dark theme and the language of Input.Observer | Simple and Advanced mode |
| Gesture trail ① | What draws your gesture trail, the style gallery, and the classic line's options | Simple and Advanced mode |
| Hint window ② | Whether and where the hint appears while you draw | Simple and Advanced mode |
| Hint text | The fonts and colors of the classic hint window's three lines | Advanced mode only |
| On-screen messages ③ | What shows the messages that actions display | Simple and Advanced mode |
Advanced mode. The Hint text section and several rows in the other sections are hidden in Simple mode. A banner at the foot of the page counts them, and says so when one of them holds a value other than its default. Hidden settings stay in effect.
What applies at once and what waits for Apply
Most settings on this page are part of your configuration: they take effect when you choose Apply or Save and close (see The configuration window). Some choices take effect the moment you make them, and Discard does not undo them:
- choosing a trail style, Classic line, None or Shuffle, and giving a draw button its own trail;
- the Hints choice Match style or Classic, and the Messages choice;
- every setting in a style's settings window, in Customize…, and the speaker on a style tile (these are saved by the plugin that draws the styles, not in your configuration);
- the Theme, which is saved even when you close the window without saving anything else.
Choosing Off for Hints is the one exception among the choices: it waits for Apply. Until then the row shows "Your hint choice takes effect when you save."
Theme & language
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | System, Light or Dark. System follows the light or dark app mode chosen in Windows settings. The configuration window, the engine's own windows (the console, its dialogs) and the splash screen all follow it. The theme button in the window's title bar sets the same value. | System |
| Language | The language of Input.Observer and of the configuration window. The first entry, "Windows default", follows the Windows display language. | Windows default |
After you change the language, the configuration window keeps its current language until you close and open it again; a note under the list says so. The engine uses the new language as soon as you apply the change. Names you gave your own groups, actions and gestures never change with the language.
Gesture trail
The Trail row chooses what draws the line that follows a gesture:
- a style from the style gallery, drawn by the renderer (the plugin that draws styles — see Plugins);
- Shuffle, a different style from a set you choose for each gesture;
- Classic line, Input.Observer's own plain line, which uses the least memory and processor time;
- None, no trail at all. Gestures still work.
The section has three tabs: In use (what draws now), Gallery (every style, by category) and Trail options (color, width and the classic line's settings). Gesture trails explains all three, the settings each style has, and what to change when drawing feels slow.
Hint window and Hint text
The Hints row chooses how the hint appears while you draw: Match style (drawn by the renderer in the look of the style in use), Classic (Input.Observer's own hint window) or Off. The rest of the section sets where the hint appears and when. Hint text sets the classic window's fonts and colors. Hints and messages lists every setting with its default and range.
On-screen messages
The Messages row chooses how messages that actions show (with the UIShowDisplayMessage builtin, in a
script or a Steps step) appear: Match style, Classic or Off. The action itself
chooses each message's text, fonts, colors, position and how long it stays.
Hints and messages has the details.
When the renderer isn't drawing
Match style and the gallery's styles need the renderer to be running. When something on this page is set to the renderer but the renderer can't draw it right now, a banner at the top of every section says so, and Input.Observer's classic trail, hint window and message window draw instead until the renderer is back. The page checks every few seconds.
| Banner | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "No renderer is chosen" | No plugin is the renderer. | Choose one on the Plugins page (the banner's link switches to Advanced mode and opens it). |
| "… isn't drawing right now" — it's starting | The renderer is starting up. | Nothing; it takes a few seconds. |
| "… isn't drawing right now" — switched off | The renderer is disabled on the Plugins page. | Enable it on the Plugins page. |
| "… isn't drawing right now" — stopped running | The renderer's program stopped. | Choose Restart. If it stops again, see Plugins. |
| "… isn't drawing right now" — its own settings switch this off | The renderer runs, but its own settings turn trail drawing off. | Choose Customize… and switch Draw gesture trails back on. |
Rows that have no effect under the current choice stay visible but are dimmed. For example, while the renderer draws the trail, Opacity is dimmed because it applies to the classic line only, and while hints are Off, every row of the Hint window section is dimmed.
Sounds
Every style from the Styles plugin has its own sounds for the start of a gesture, while you draw, and the release. Every style starts silent. To hear a style, click the speaker on its tile in the gallery; click it again to silence it. The first time the Styles plugin runs, it shows a message, "Gesture sounds are available", at the bottom right of the main screen for about 12 seconds to point this out. Gesture trails covers the shared sound settings and custom sound files.
Free styles, locked styles and purchases
The Styles plugin contains every style, but only some are yours to use from the start. These six are free: Comet, Fire, Vibrant rainbow, Firework, Neon glow and Paint brush. A new installation draws Neon glow.
Every other style shows Locked with a padlock on its tile. You can still open a locked style to watch its live preview and see every setting it has, but you can't change its settings or put it in use. A locked style's tile and its settings window have a Buy button, which opens that style's page in the store at https://input.observer/styles in your web browser. Input.Observer itself never connects to the internet.
Auto draws a different style depending on the date. It needs at least one of its calendar styles to be unlocked. On a date whose style you don't own, Auto draws the free default style, Neon glow, instead.
Adding a purchase
A purchase comes as a file ending in .ioentitlement. To unlock the styles it holds:
- On Appearance, choose Gesture trail, then the Gallery tab.
- Choose Add purchased styles… ①.
- Choose the purchase file. A line under the button says what happened: which styles it unlocked, or why it didn't.
A purchase belongs to the email address of the license it was bought with:
- Bought for this license's email: its styles unlock at once.
- Bought for another email, or added during the trial: the file is kept, and its styles unlock as soon as a license with that email is active on this computer.
- Already added: nothing changes.
Input.Observer keeps each purchase file in an Entitlements folder beside your configuration file
(The configuration file). A file you copy into that folder yourself is read the next
time the Styles plugin starts; Add purchased styles… takes effect at once. The button shows only while the
Styles plugin is the renderer.
If a style you use becomes locked again (for example, because the license changed), it draws Neon glow until it is unlocked again. Your choice of style is kept.