Theme

The Theme tab is pure personalisation — how the app looks. Nothing here changes what your workers can do; it just makes the app comfortable for your eyes and taste. Every change applies instantly and is saved on this machine, so the app looks the way you left it next time you open it.

🌗 Colour scheme

Three buttons: System, Dark, Light.

What it does: sets the app’s light/dark appearance.
- System follows your operating system’s setting (so it can flip automatically when your OS does).
- Dark and Light force that look regardless of the OS.
Default: System.
When to change it: pick Dark or Light if you want a fixed look that ignores your OS. Leave it on System to match the rest of your computer.

⏰ Auto-rotate colour scheme by time of day (the schedule)

A toggle that, when on, switches between a day theme and a night theme at times you set.

What it does: applies one theme during the day window and another at night, flipping at the two boundaries you choose. A small “now → …” tag shows what it resolves to at this moment.
Default: off. When first enabled, it defaults to Light from 08:00 and Dark from 22:00.
The controls (shown when on):
- ☀ Day starts at — the time the day theme begins, plus a Light/Dark switch for which theme is the day one.
- 🌙 Night starts at — the time the night theme begins, plus its own Light/Dark switch.
When to change it: turn it on if you like a bright UI by day and a dim one at night without thinking about it. Wraparound is supported — e.g. night at 22:00 and day at 08:00 keeps the night theme through midnight until 8am; night owls can set night at 02:00 and day at 10:00.

🔠 UI text size

Four buttons: Small, Normal, Large, Extra large.

What it does: scales every text and spacing measurement across the whole app.
Default: Normal.
When to change it: bump it up for a big or high-resolution screen, or for easier reading; drop it to Small to fit more on screen.

🌀 Dashboard header animation

Six selectable styles for the title strip at the top of the Dashboard. Each is shown as a live mini preview so you can see it before choosing.

What it does: sets the personality of the Dashboard’s header animation. The six styles are:
- A — Aurora wash: a slow aurora gradient breathes across the title card on an 8-second cycle. Calm, ambient.
- B — Neon outline pulse: a thin accent outline pulses around the header on a 4-second cycle. Modern, neon.
- C — Conic running light: a bright sliver runs the perimeter on a 12-second loop. Premium, never distracting.
- D — Activity-reactive breathing (default): the breathing speed mirrors your workforce — slow when idle, faster when workers are streaming. Turns the header into a quiet status indicator.
- E — Heartbeat title glow: only the word “askTheodor” pulses, in a heartbeat lub-dub rhythm. Quiet character.
- F — Live metrics + soft border: a soft breathing border plus a small live ticker (workers, tasks, cost) inside the header.
Default: D (Activity-reactive breathing).
When to change it: pick whichever suits your mood. Choose D or F if you like the header doubling as an at-a-glance activity gauge; pick A or C for something calmer.

🔲 Window-frame animation

The same six styles (A–F) plus an Off option, but applied as a ring around the whole window instead of just the header.

What it does: wraps the entire app window in an animated inner ring, in any of the six styles. It’s independent of the header — you can pair them or contrast them.
Default: Off (a full-window animation is more noticeable than a header strip).
When to change it: turn it on if you want the whole window to breathe along with workforce activity (style D) or just enjoy a subtle animated frame. Leave it Off for a calmer screen.

In practice

Text size is the setting most people actually need. If the app feels cramped on a large or high-resolution monitor, UI text size scales every measurement — text and spacing — rather than just enlarging the font. Try Large before deciding the layout is wrong for your screen.

Style D turns the header into a status gauge. The activity-reactive animation breathes slowly when your workforce is idle and faster when workers are streaming, so a glance at the top of the Dashboard tells you whether anything is running. Style F puts live worker / task / cost figures in the same strip. If you leave the app open while work runs in the background, one of those two earns its place; the rest are decoration.

These settings are per-machine and don’t travel. They live in local settings, not in your workspace, so a backup restored on a second computer brings your workers and Library but not your theme. Expect to set them again on each install.

The schedule takes the wheel. Turning on the time-of-day rotation disables the three manual scheme buttons by design — switch the schedule off to pick light or dark by hand again.

Terms in this page

Colour scheme — the app’s overall light or dark appearance.
System (colour scheme) — a setting that follows your operating system’s light/dark choice.
Theme schedule — an optional rule that auto-switches between a day theme and a night theme at set times.
Wraparound — when a schedule window crosses midnight (e.g. 22:00 to 08:00) and is handled correctly.
UI text size — a global zoom for all text and spacing in the app.
Header animation — the moving visual effect on the Dashboard’s title strip.
Window-frame animation — a moving visual effect drawn as a ring around the entire app window.
Activity-reactive — an effect whose speed changes with how busy your workers are (idle / working / busy).
Reduce motion — an operating-system accessibility setting that asks apps to minimise animation; askTheodor obeys it.
Workforce — your collection of workers; some animations reflect how active it is.