v0.5.0: Visual Interface Overhaul (March 23, 2024)

Version 0.5.0 represents a major milestone with the introduction of a comprehensive graphical user interface and improved visual experience.

Key Features

🖥️ Enhanced GUI

• New black-background theme for an authentic retro terminal look
• Space Mono font integration for consistent terminal-like appearance
• Classic Mac-style menu bar with dropdown functionality
• Enhanced button toolbar with intuitive icons
• Fixed button layout issues for better visibility across resolutions
• Improved widget visibility with enhanced contrast
• Touch-friendly controls for tablet and touchscreen usage

🔗 OpenAI Integration

• Full OpenAI API integration for generating punch card messages
• Model selection options for different GPT variants
• Temperature and response length controls for customized output
• Service status monitoring with connection indicators
• API console with detailed connection information and logs
• Response caching for more efficient operation

⌨️ Accessibility & User Experience

• Keyboard shortcuts for all major functions
• Tabbed interface for working with multiple cards
• Customizable interface scale for different screen sizes
• Enhanced status bar with informative messages
• Progress indicators for long-running operations
• Improved error handling with user-friendly messages

🔐 Security & Configuration

• API key management with secure storage
• Dedicated secrets directory excluded from Git
• Enhanced settings file structure for better security
• Separate development and production configurations
• User preference persistence across sessions
• Connection timeout handling for robust operation

Visual Elements

The new interface features:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ File   Edit   View   Tools   Help                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ┌─New─┐ ┌─Open─┐ ┌─Save─┐ ┌─Settings─┐ ┌─Generate─┐     │
│ │ 📄  │ │ 📂   │ │ 💾   │ │ ⚙️      │ │ 🤖      │     │
│ └─────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                         │
│  Punch Card Display                                     │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │                                                 │    │
│  │  ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● │    │
│  │  ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● │    │
│  │  ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● │    │
│  │  ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● │    │
│  │  ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● │    │
│  │                                                 │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│                                                         │
│  Input Message:                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │                                                 │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─Encode─┐   ┌─Clear─┐   ┌─Settings─┐                  │
│  └────────┘   └───────┘   └──────────┘                  │
│                                                         │
│  Status: Ready | Connected to API | Terminal: Enabled   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Installation Notes

This update introduces many new dependencies. To update:

git pull origin main
pip install -r requirements.txt

First-time setup will prompt for OpenAI API credentials if you wish to use the generation features.

Configuration

The settings dialog provides options for:

• Interface theme (Dark/Light)
• Font size
• Animation speed
• OpenAI API settings
• Hardware integration settings
• Terminal fallback options