A tutorial by John Beard.
Specific visibility hints
KiCad is fundamentally a graphical program and therefore the scope for visual accessibility is sadly a little limited, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. It does have some things you can configure for enhanced visibility if you are struggling to see things clearly.
The ratsnest lines are thin by default, and you can increase the line thickness:
This is the pic_programmer demo project with:
- all traces deleted
- in high-constrast/dimmed mode showing the F.Cu layer (H key)
- zone fills not shown, only boundaries
- thick ratsnest lines (you can change the colour and opacity on the right)
- grid set to be thicker (Preferences → PCB Editor → Display Options)
You can see the ratsnest has few crossings and more short lines than long lines, which is a good sign for routing.
You may also find setting a layer preset list to help filter out clutter, e.g. only F.Cu and F.Fab and no values may be to your liking. Set the layers and objects as you need in the right panel, then save as a preset, and you can select it with Ctrl+Tab at any time.
Also you can change the colour scheme if you find it hard to read - this is Monokai High Constrast:
Get this from the KiCad project manager, Tools → Plugin and Content Manager → Color themes:
And you can modify it as you want by creating a new theme ¹ (in preferences).
And of course if there are things that you find inaccessible and you think they can be improved, please do raise a bug on Gitlab - avoidable accessibility issues are bugs.
¹ Kicad and Plugin color themes are “read only”. To make one, or more, of these themes writable, the theme must first be renamed. To rename:
- Preferences > Schematic (or PCB) Editor > Colors
- Select and display the theme to modify from those available in the “Theme” box.
- Select “New Theme”
- Name New Theme then OK,
The theme displayed is now renamed and writable for modifying.