[PD] changing the look of Pd to be more readable

[João Miguel Pais]

> it might also be useful to have a very subtle background grid drawn on
> the canvas at certain intervals to help patch organization. Quartz
> Composer has this, as does Max 5 (not saying you HAVE to have it, but
> it might be a nice addition.

something important might be the possibility of using other colors except  
white for the background. Not because of looks but because of eye health.  
It's taken for granted that the standard background must be white, which  
is maybe quite damaging to the eyes. I know of no studies about this, but  
I set as many of my programs as I can to have a greyish background, that  
goes softer on my eyes. (I usually also do my patches with graphics in  
grayscale) I would second to even make the standard color a "safe" color.

Although looks might not be considered so relevant, it is an important  
step in pd to improve also these subjects. I also second Vade's idea of a  
properties saved in the patch file (and alterable on the fly through the  
pd engine, please). That opens up lots of possibilities for more  
rrrradical patching.


By the way, are all these new elements going to be improved only in  
pd-ext, or also in vanilla? I guess it would make sense to have both at  
the same level.