mg4/THEMES.md

Overview styles

The Overview can look twenty ways: pick one under Settings → Overview style. Every style shows the same readings (battery, range, power, speed, gear, usage, trip, climate, odometer, time) and shows "—" for anything the car did not answer, never a made-up zero.

Each style has two screenshots: with the navigation, and in the Overview's own full screen (the button beside the MG4 logo; swipe in from the left edge to come back). They come from the test emulator at the car's resolution with sample values (87 km/h in D, 76 %, 18.4 kW), since the emulator has no car; on the car the values are live.

Colours. Most styles are drawn in the accent colour you pick from the MG4 paints (Settings → Accent colour; shown here in Dynamic Red). Retro, Terminal, Grid (with or without the map) and Visor can also show their original colours, and Sci-fi, Cartoon, Nixie tubes, Time circuits, Quest, Empire, Día de Muertos, Halloween, Christmas and Caterpillar always do; while one of those is shown, the whole app (navigation, buttons, switches) takes on its colours too.

Style	Look	Colours
Tiles	the app's own cards	accent
Gauges	analogue needles	accent
Cockpit	segment rings, power trace	accent
Retro	80s fluorescent display	original or accent
Futuristic	holographic HUD, energy flow	accent
Sci-fi	starship console	own
Cartoon	comic panels	own
MG	octagonal MG dials	accent
Minimal	one big number	accent
Terminal	green-screen shell	original or accent
Nixie tubes	glowing glass tubes	own
Chronograph	a watch face	accent
Grid	neon lines on a glowing grid floor	original or accent
Grid with map	the Grid, with the real roads round the car on its floor	original or accent
Time circuits	a time machine's LED displays	own
Quest	a fantasy game's interface	own
Visor	a soldier's helmet display	original or accent
Empire	a strategy game's interface	own
Día de Muertos	an ofrenda with papel picado and a calavera	own
Halloween	a jack-o'-lantern on a graveyard hill	own
Christmas	a Christmas tree in a snowy village	own
Caterpillar	a hungry caterpillar in cut-paper collage	own

Tiles

The app's original look, from the design it was forked from: glass cards on OLED black, one tile per value, with the averages over the last five minutes and since the start, vehicle info (with the lease allowance) and the tyre pressures on a little top view of the car. The most information on one screen. While something plays over Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio, the slot under the battery shows it: the source, title, artist, a cover when Bluetooth sends one, and how far the song is (Settings → "Show what's playing", on by default).

Gauges

Three round instruments with needles, like a classic analogue dashboard: power on the left, speed in the middle, charge on the right (E to F), and a strip below with gear, climate, time, usage and a small battery. The needles glide to new values instead of jumping.

Cockpit

After the digital clusters of modern EVs: rings of lit segments for battery, power and usage. The power ring in the middle is centred on zero (regeneration lights up anticlockwise in green) and carries the speed and gear inside it; along the bottom, a strip with the power of the last two minutes.

Retro

An 80s digital dashboard: a vacuum fluorescent display behind smoked glass, as in the digital-instrument cars of that decade. Slanted seven-segment digits with the unlit segments faintly visible, bar graphs for charge and power, amber labels and a lit P R N D. In its original turquoise (shown) or in the accent colour.

Futuristic

A holographic head-up display in hairlines: the battery as a capsule on the left, the speed in a ring of dashes that turns with it on the right, and between them an energy channel in which particles flow from the battery to the wheels while driving, and back in green while regenerating, faster with more power.

Sci-fi

A starship console, after the look of the computer screens in 90s science-fiction TV: rounded "elbow" frames in orange and lilac, pill-shaped labels, condensed capitals and blocky bar graphs on black. Below 20 % charge the frames turn red: red alert. The app takes on the lilac of the lower frame. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) is written in black on the top bar, cut to its length.

Cartoon

Comic panels in flat colours with thick ink outlines on a night-blue page: a battery with a face (happy, unsure, then worried and sweating as it empties), a chunky speedometer whose needle wobbles into place, and the "zap-o-meter" for power with a sound word: PURR, VROOM, ZOOM! or RECHARGE! while regenerating.

MG

After the classic MG dashboards, whose dials sat in octagonal bezels: three octagonal dials with chrome rims and cream scales (battery, speed, power), needles in the accent colour, and a line of odometer, trip, usage, climate and time separated by small octagons.

Minimal

One number and almost nothing else: the speed, very large and thin, the gear above it, power as a short line growing from the centre, and the battery as a hairline along the bottom edge. For calm driving.

Terminal

As if a shell printed the car's state: watch -n 0.2 vehicle-status on a green-phosphor screen with faint scan lines, each value on a row with an ASCII bar, the gear as [D], and a prompt with a blinking cursor. A low battery turns its row amber. In green (shown) or in the accent colour. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) shows as a PLAYING row above the prompt, cut to the width.

Nixie tubes

The glow of nixie tubes, the neon number displays of 50s to 70s lab instruments: orange digits in glass tubes, the unlit numerals faintly behind the lit one, on a dark walnut panel with brass name plates. Speed, gear and battery on top; power, range, usage and the time below.

Chronograph

A watch face, after a chronograph wristwatch: a deep-blue dial with a steel bezel carrying the speed scale, the long main hand for the speed, sub-dials for battery, power and usage, and the gear in a date window. Engraved columns either side carry range, trip, time, climate and odometer.

Grid

After the neon world of the Tron films: glowing lines on black and a perspective grid floor that runs towards you as fast as you drive. The speed sits large in the middle; the battery is a segmented light wall standing on the floor, turning orange when it runs low; power lights up a disc whose inner ring turns with it, anticlockwise for regeneration; and the last two minutes of power run across the floor as a light-cycle trail that only turns at right angles. In its original cyan (shown, and the app turns cyan with it) or in the accent colour — red gives the films' other side.

Grid with map

The Grid over a map: the roads round the car from OpenStreetMap (through OpenFreeMap) fill the whole screen as light lanes, straight from above and turned with the direction you drive, about 400 m ahead and 450 m to each side: motorways glow brightest, then main roads, then the smaller streets, the far ones fainter, over a ground grid every 50 m that turns and slides with them. The speed, the battery wall, the power disc and the clock stand on dark panels over the map. The car is the chevron on the floor, and between GPS fixes it runs on with the speed. The roads come through the car's own server, which fetches only the map tiles you drive through and keeps them (see the README); the car also keeps the last few hundred tiles itself. Without GPS, the server or the roads, the floor says so and stays the plain grid. The light-cycle trail makes way for the map here; power stays on the disc. Shown with sample values over real roads in central Berlin.

Time circuits

After the time machine in Back to the Future: three rows of LED read-outs in a metal panel, labelled with embossed tape. The red row, "DESTINATION", shows where you can still get to — the gear as a word (DRV, REV, NTL, PRK), the charge, the range and the usage, with lamps for power and regeneration; the green row is the present date and time, as in the film; the amber row, "LAST TIME DEPARTED", is when you last shifted out of P. Beside them the speed in large red digits and the flux capacitor, whose light runs to its centre with the power and outwards while regenerating. At 88 km/h the speed burns white and the flux capacitor flashes. The app turns red with it.

Quest

After the interface of a fantasy online game like World of Warcraft, with the car as the player character: a portrait with the gear as its level, the battery as the health bar and power as the energy bar; a minimap with the clock; the speed in large gold numbers over a cast bar that reads "Accelerating", "Regenerating", "Coasting" or, in P, "Resting"; a road-trip quest whose objectives are the trip, the usage and the climate; a chat window with system lines; P R N D as action buttons, and the odometer as the experience bar, a level per 1000 km. Below 20 % a raid warning flashes "Low battery!". The app turns gold with it. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) crosses the top of the sky on a waving scroll towed by a red dragon, behind the frames, again and again while it plays.

Visor

After the helmet display of a science-fiction shooter like Halo: thin light-blue lines and slanted frames on a dark visor. The shield bar on top is the battery, turning red and blinking "BATTERY LOW" below 20 %; the ammunition counter is the range, as a number and as rounds, one per 10 km, with P R N D as the grenade slots under it; the reticle in the middle holds the speed and fills with power round it, green and the other way while regenerating; the motion tracker shows the last two minutes of power as blips, red while drawing and green while regenerating, and sweeps while you drive. The objective lists trip, usage, climate and odometer. In its original blue (shown, and the app turns blue with it) or in the accent colour.

Empire

After the interface of a real-time strategy game like Age of Empires: a wooden resource bar on top with the battery, range, power and usage, the clock, and the age you have reached by odometer — Dark Age, then Feudal from 10,000 km, Castle from 30,000 and Imperial from 60,000. In the isometric world below, the car is the selected unit on a road, its health bar the battery, while the ground and trees move past as fast as you drive and the speed stands large over the land. The carved panel at the bottom has P R N D as command buttons, the unit's portrait and stats, and a diamond minimap with the odometer and the way to the next age. Below 20 % it warns "Your battery is running low!". The app turns the player's blue with it. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) crosses the top of the world on a waving scroll flown by an eagle, behind the speed, again and again while it plays.

Día de Muertos

After the ofrenda, the altar families in Mexico build to welcome their dead back for a visit: a celebration, so bright and warm rather than frightening. The papel picado across the top is the battery, one cut-paper flag per 10 %, those not lit hanging dark, turning red with "BATTERY LOW" below 20 %. The calavera in the middle, a decorated sugar skull with marigolds (cempasúchil) for eyes, has the speed on its forehead; the ring of marigolds round it is the power, clockwise while drawing, turquoise and anticlockwise while regenerating. The altar's candles are the range, one per 50 km. The path of marigold petals along the bottom, which in the tradition leads the visitors home, is the last two minutes of power. On the right the clock in a tin frame, P R N D as small marigolds, and trip, usage, climate and odometer on the altar cloth. While you drive the flags sway and the flames flicker. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) crosses the sky between the flags and the ring on a waving strip of cut paper, towed by a monarch butterfly and, on the next pass, an alebrije; the paper takes one of the flags' colours, fixed by the song. The app turns the papel picado's pink with it.

Halloween

A graveyard hill under a full moon. The jack-o'-lantern has the speed cut into its grin, and its carving burns candle yellow while drawing and witch-fire green while regenerating; the arch of embers over it is the power, from the left while drawing and from the right while regenerating. The potion flask is the battery, red with "BATTERY LOW" blinking below 20 %. The tombstone reads the range ("here lies … km"), and the bats are the range too, one per 50 km; P R N D are small gravestones, the one engaged lit. The moon holds the clock, a sign hanging from a cobweb has trip, usage, climate and odometer, and the hill along the bottom is the last two minutes of power. While you drive the bats fly, the potion bubbles and the ghost floats (where there is room for it, as on this screen). With "Pumpkin light follows the music" on (Settings, shown with this style; off by default) and Bluetooth or CarPlay music playing, the pumpkin's glow flares and its carving brightens on each kick drum; the radio cannot be heard, so it burns as usual then. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) flies across the top of the sky on a waving parchment banner that a bat tows, behind the moon, again and again while it plays (SongBanner draws the banner for both this style and Día de Muertos). The app turns the pumpkin's orange with it.

Christmas

A snowy village at night, warm and festive. In the middle a Christmas tree with a big red bauble in front of it: the speed. Fairy lights arch over the tree: the power, left to right in warm gold while drawing, ice blue and right to left while regenerating. On the left a glass mug of hot cocoa fills with the charge, with marshmallows floating on it and steam rising; it turns cold blue with "BATTERY LOW" blinking below 20 %. Above it, gift tags hang from a garland with trip, usage, climate and odometer. On the right a wreath holds the clock, and a snowy signboard reads the range with a candy cane for every 50 km in the snow below; P R N D are four baubles, the one engaged lit. The snow drift along the bottom is the last two minutes of power, rising with it. While you drive the snow falls and the tree's lights twinkle. With "Light follows the music" on (Settings, shown with this style and Halloween; off by default) and Bluetooth or CarPlay music playing, the lights on the tree and the fairy lights flare on each kick drum; the radio cannot be heard, so they twinkle as usual then. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) crosses the sky above the tree on a waving strip of wrapping paper towed by Santa's sleigh and, on the next pass, a small angel with a trumpet; the paper's colour is fixed by the song. The app turns red with it.

Caterpillar

After a picture book about a very hungry caterpillar, drawn anew in cut-paper shapes and bright tissue colours on the book's night page. The caterpillar arches over the middle, after the one on the newer pictures of the book: plump, round segments like balls of wound paper with brush strokes in light green and teal, a fringe of yellow and orange bristles along the back and stubby brown feet, and a big round red head with teal eyes rimmed in yellow and two lilac ears. The face carries the speed, and its ten segments are the power, lit from the head backwards while drawing and blue while regenerating. While you drive it crawls the way a caterpillar does: a hump runs from its tail to its head, the feet it lifts swing forward and the others stay planted, and the branch it walks on slides by, faster the faster the car goes. Parked, it settles into its high arch. On the left the sun is the battery, filling with the charge; below 20 % it turns into a grey moon and "BATTERY LOW" blinks. A big leaf above it holds trip, usage, climate and odometer on paper labels. On the right a clock in a paper circle, and the story's fruit, one apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries and five oranges: a fruit per 50 km of range, those used up with a bite taken out. P R N D are the stages of its life, an egg, the caterpillar, a cocoon and a butterfly, the one engaged lit. The hills along the bottom are the last two minutes of power, rising with it. With "Light follows the music" on (Settings, shown with this style, Halloween and Christmas; off by default) and Bluetooth or CarPlay music playing, the sun's rays and the caterpillar's segments bounce on each kick drum; the radio cannot be heard. What plays (Bluetooth, CarPlay or the radio) crosses the sky on a waving strip of tissue paper towed by a butterfly and, on the next pass, a ladybird; the paper's colour is fixed by the song. The app turns green with it.