FOSSEE Summer Fellowship 2025: eSim GUI Enhancement and New Features (Submission by Arpita Kukreja and Anup Kumar Pandey)

[Anupkumarpandey1]

Purpose

This PR introduces comprehensive GUI enhancements and user experience improvements to the eSim application, focusing on modern interface design, theme consistency, accessibility, and streamlined workflow optimization. The changes include:

• Enhanced GUI design with modern visual elements and improved layout consistency across all sections
• Complete light and dark theme implementation with enhanced GUI design and optimized color schemes for all toolbar sections:
  • Left toolbar (Open Schematic, Convert KiCad to Ngspice, Simulate, Model Editor, Subcircuit, NGHDL, Makerchip-NgVeri, Modelica Converter, OM Optimisation, Schematics converter)
  • Top toolbar and all UI components
  • Carefully tested color palettes that are visually appealing and eye-friendly for extended use
• Improved user experience with intuitive navigation and streamlined workflows
• Enhanced project management with direct delete functionality and trash options
• Improved accessibility with adjustable toolbar sizing and font scaling controls
• Expanded help section with FAQ, user manual, and chatbot integration template
• Redesigned project section with integrated dock area functionality

Approach

GUI Enhancement: Implemented modern visual design principles with consistent styling, improved button layouts, gradient backgrounds, hover effects, and enhanced visual hierarchy across all interface elements including toolbars, dialogs, and workspace areas.

Theme Implementation: Applied consistent light/dark theme styling across all toolbar sections and UI components, ensuring visual coherence and user preference support for all tools including Open Schematic, Convert KiCad to Ngspice, Simulate, Model Editor, Subcircuit, NGHDL, Makerchip-NgVeri, Modelica Converter, OM Optimisation, and Schematics converter.

Project Management: Added context menu options for project deletion with confirmation dialogs, allowing users to permanently delete or move projects to trash, improving project organization workflow.

Accessibility Controls: Implemented keyboard shortcuts for dynamic UI scaling:

• Ctrl + Up/Down: Adjust toolbar sizes
• Ctrl + Shift + 0: Reset toolbar sizes to default
• Ctrl + +/-: Increase/decrease font size
• Ctrl + 0: Reset font size to default

Help Section Enhancement: Extended the help menu with structured sections including FAQ, user manual access, and a chatbot template framework for future AI integration.

Project Section Redesign: Redesigned the complete project section to operate within the eSim dock area, featuring a modern and intuitive interface with dedicated save functionality. This eliminates the need for external dialogs and provides users with a seamless, integrated project management experience including a prominent save button for immediate change persistence.