Refine sidebar layout for Printer and Bed panels

[kisslorand]

Description

This PR refines the sidebar layout and visual consistency for the Printer and Bed sections, addressing misalignments, uneven spacing, and minor usability issues.
Both panels now share a dynamic, equal-width layout that scales consistently across DPI modes, improving overall visual balance, tooltip consistency, and behavioral parity between the two sections.

Changes

Printer section

• Realigned Edit and Sync/Connection info icons for consistent horizontal and vertical placement.
• Ensured proper centering of the printer image and combo box.
• Normalized icon scaling and padding across DPI modes.
• Reduced excessive empty space, increasing information density without adding clutter.
• Improved dynamic sizing: the Printer panel now adapts to available width in the same way as the Bed panel, ensuring proportional layout balance.

Bed section

• Reworked layout sizers to align the bed image and info (“i”) icon with the printer section.
• Fixed horizontal offset of the plate image and ensured it remains centered.
• Adjusted top and bottom margins for improved vertical symmetry relative to the printer panel.
• Added tooltip for the “i” icon: Wiki: Bed types
• Updated help link target to the OrcaSlicer wiki: https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/wiki/bed-types
• Bed panel now uses the same adaptive layout behavior, distributing sidebar space evenly alongside the Printer panel.

Motivation

These refinements improve visual balance, scaling consistency, and responsiveness in the sidebar, ensuring that the Printer and Bed panels behave as a unified pair both aesthetically and structurally.
The updated layout also eliminates unnecessary whitespace in the Printer section, making better use of available space while preserving clarity and hierarchy.
The tooltip and wiki link further enhance usability and discoverability for new users.

Testing

• Verified on Windows (125% and 150% scaling).
• Checked alignment between printer and bed panels.
• Confirmed tooltips and links function correctly.
• Verified precise alignment and consistent vertical centering of the Edit and Connection icons relative to the printer image.
• No regressions detected in filament or project panels.

UI Alignment Overview

Before

Before.mp4

After

After.mp4

[yw4z]

lol working on similar PR on layout. but looks like you fine tuned most of issues like scaling
also i preferred to remove some details. like info icon on plate, sync text etc.
i was planning to add new icons to bed plates make them more obvious

FYI preview of build plate combo box is white on dark mode

Before - After

For non AMS - single extruder. nozzle can be used as combo box

[Hammerfest]

A note of personal preference: It seems rather pointless to have such a waste of space with the icon being small and aligned above the text, I would prefer the icon/images left center, and any text to the right with top left alignment, also feel the Sync Info should be part of the Printer Bar itself, but probably not easy

Outside of that, whichever option is chosen, I hope icon and button alignment gets fixed
IE in this PR the WiFi and Edit icon do not have equal distance from the top and right side, it looks very disjointed having no gap at the top but a large gap to the right
In yw4z example, the dropdown arrow is on the right side of the printer icon, but the left side of the nozzle/plate

Ill mspaint an example if anyone is interested

[yw4z]

wifi button can be move to titlebar but not sure how often SYNC button used by BBL users. its better to use as big button if it used often to make its easier to click. wifi button(network settings) is setup and forget mostly

dropdown button is embedded to combo box but it can be hidden and added as a separate icon before printer image to improve consistency

lets hear different comments as much as possible to find a correct path before making changes

alternatively we can give a option in preferences to "Use compact layout for printer selection"

[boromyr]

For non AMS - single extruder. nozzle can be used as combo box

This version is perfect; the current version takes up too much space, which it deprives from the other settings.

[kisslorand]

This version is perfect; the current version takes up too much space, which it deprives from the other settings.

It will be a long dispute who likes what.
I personally hate not to see the plate's name, that's what motivated me in the first place.
Just a side note, not everyone uses 50" displays with 8K resolution...

[yw4z]

yes i think better to give option to user a setting for it. so that makes both UI accessible for user

[kisslorand]

If it would been my decision to make, I would revert everything back, just as it was. It was just fine, clear, intuitive, no more space used than needed. These icons displaying the printer and the plate are useless gimmicks in my eyes, I could have many of the same model printer. The displayed icons not helping at all, but the name of the printer clearly identifies each and every printer. Same with the plate, just by that tiny displayed icon I cannot decide what plate is that one, but it's unique name makes it a split second to identify.

[yw4z]

thinking same with you
only advantage of it makes hitbox of controls bigger
i'm planning to edit plate images that can easily discern. like using a snow flake icon in cold plate etc

[SoftFever]

lol working on similar PR on layout. but looks like you fine tuned most of issues like scaling also i preferred to remove some details. like info icon on plate, sync text etc. i was planning to add new icons to bed plates make them more obvious

FYI preview of build plate combo box is white on dark mode

Before - After

For non AMS - single extruder. nozzle can be used as combo box

Nice!
This is so much better!

[yw4z]

@SoftFever problem with that has not much room if you make sidebar narrower

i think its better to give this UI as option. check comments above

no nozzle and sync button in below example. wifi button will be moved to titlebar
maybe printer thumbnail can be automatically hidden after resize
sync button can be used narrower

[SoftFever]

@SoftFever problem with that has not much room if you make sidebar narrower

i think its better to give this UI as option. check comments above

no nozzle and sync button in below example. wifi button will be moved to titlebar maybe printer thumbnail can be automatically hidden after resize sync button can be used narrower

It's fine.
We can prioritize shrinking the printer combo box first when the sidebar shrinks to mitigate the issue.

[yw4z]

@SoftFever which method you prefer
Using compact layout as default or giving it as option?

[SoftFever]

@SoftFever which method you prefer Using compact layout as default or giving it as option?

I'd say let's use the compact layout as default.
In the future, if many users still feel it takes up too much space, we can introduce an option to make it even smaller. For now, though, I think it looks great—neat, compact, and user-friendly.

[yw4z]

is there an option in preferences as "Use compact layout for printer selection" or should it be a complete replacement in code

[SoftFever]

is there an option in preferences as "Use compact layout for printer selection" or should it be a complete replacement in code

Let's replace the UI directly, no extra option needed.

[yw4z]

Ok, here is my plan
• Use custom textures for bed plate images to make them easily discern. Snow flake for cold plate, Wrench for engineering etc also i will use some colors so users can easily can idendify using which plate since there is no text
• Hide plates section if "Support multiple plates" option is not selected
• Hide printer cover first if there is no space
• Nozzle section will be unified if printer is not use AMS or multiple extruders
• Will move wifi icon ( network settings) to titlebar to save some space
• Focus events only paints background of combo box instead all box
• There are problems for scaling and tooltips that @kisslorand fixed
• Will remove wiki button on bed plate combobox to prevent accidental clicks. we can move this to Printer Settings

NOT SURE ABOUT THIS ONES
• There is preview image while hovering plate combo box. i assume its unnecessary
• Edit button is only visible while hovering. i assume we can keep that always visible

QUESTIONS
• Is sync button used often for BBL machines? i can move it to titlebar if its not. bigger hitbox is useful for items that clicked regularly