The status indicator is a choice, and it is legible against a spent globe

PRIVACY.md

@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ The whole tool works by reading the clipboard, so this is worth being precise ab
 
 | path | what |
 |---|---|
-| `<config>/config.json` | your settings: league, hotkeys, panel geometry, listing status, result count, filter ranges, client and interface language, panel opacity, whether to update automatically - **and your QuickPaste entries, in full**, since they are text you typed for this tool to hold |
+| `<config>/config.json` | your settings: league, hotkeys, panel geometry, listing status, result count, filter ranges, client and interface language, panel opacity, whether the status indicator is shown, whether to update automatically - **and your QuickPaste entries, in full**, since they are text you typed for this tool to hold |
 | `<config>/cookies.txt` | the cookie jar above |
 | `<cache>/data/<version>/` | the downloaded game-data bundle, plus a `current` pointer |
 | `<cache>/update/` | a downloaded release of the application, waiting for the restart that applies it. One file, consumed as it is applied; absent whenever no update is pending |

docs/architecture.md

@@ -231,13 +231,20 @@ while a click on our own card would; and `place_overlay` logs the geometry it ch
 thing to read when the panel lands somewhere unexpected.
 
 The **idle status marker** replaces the old "● PPC" spike: two lines — `PoPC v<version>` and the data
-bundle's version — in outlined yellow at half opacity over the mana globe, which is where the game
+bundle's version — in yellow inside a light-grey halo at half opacity over the mana globe, which is where the game
 itself has nothing to say. `Config::status_right`/`status_bottom` place its centre, as offsets from
 the game window's bottom-right corner ÷ its height (the same reasoning as the frame edges), and they
 are config-file-only. Horizontally that centre is the globe's; vertically it sits below it, in the
 globe's lower half, so that the third line — the one an available update adds — still lands on the
 glass instead of on the frame. `place_overlay` sizes the window to the text for that screen, so the idle
-overlay is a 200×48 rectangle rather than a dialog-sized one nothing is drawn into.
+overlay is a 200×48 rectangle rather than a dialog-sized one nothing is drawn into. The outline
+stamped around the glyphs is light grey, not black: the globe behind it is dark whenever the mana
+is spent or fully reserved, and that is exactly where a black outline vanished. Its per-stamp
+alpha is not the line's — eight stamps of one string composite rather than add, so a visible halo
+pixel lands at `1-(1-s)^n` for the `n≈3` a straight edge gets, and that is what the constant is
+solved back through.
+`Config::status_marker` (Settings → General → Appearance, on by default) turns the marker off
+altogether; with it off the idle overlay is never mapped, and nothing else about a check changes.
 
 **Settings is four tabs** — General, Price check, QuickPaste, Application — between a fixed header (the title
 and the close disc) and a fixed footer (Save). `kTabs` in `settings_screen.cpp` pairs each name with

src/app.cpp

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <clocale>
+#include <cmath>
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <sstream>
@@ -163,17 +164,26 @@ std::string update_status_line(const update::Updater::Status& st) {
     }
 }
 
-/// One centred line in yellow with a black outline, drawn straight into the draw list: the
+/// One centred line in yellow inside a light-grey halo, drawn straight into the draw list: the
 /// overlay has no background of its own here, so the text is over whatever the game is showing
-/// and needs to carry its own contrast. The outline is the same string stamped at eight offsets
-/// around the glyphs, which is cheap at two lines and needs no shader.
+/// and needs to carry its own contrast. The halo is the same string stamped at eight offsets
+/// around the glyphs, which is cheap at three lines and needs no shader. Grey and not black,
+/// because the globe behind it is dark whenever the mana is spent or fully reserved and a black
+/// outline vanished there; grey and not white, because the text still has to hold its shape
+/// against a full globe.
 void draw_outlined_line(const char* text, float centre_x, float y, float alpha) {
     ImDrawList* dl = ImGui::GetWindowDrawList();
     ImFont* font = ImGui::GetFont();
     const float size = ImGui::GetFontSize();
     const ImVec2 extent = ImGui::CalcTextSize(text);
     const ImVec2 at(centre_x - extent.x * 0.5f, y);
-    const ImU32 outline = IM_COL32(0, 0, 0, static_cast<int>(alpha * 255));
+    // The stamps composite over one another rather than adding, so a pixel the halo covers n
+    // times lands at 1-(1-s)^n. Outside the glyphs — the only part of the halo ever seen — n is
+    // three along a straight edge, since only the offsets pointing into the glyph reach it, and
+    // that is what `alpha` is solved back through here. Dividing it by eight instead assumes
+    // additive blending and a coverage no visible halo pixel has.
+    const float stamp = 1.0f - std::pow(1.0f - alpha, 1.0f / 3.0f);
+    const ImU32 outline = IM_COL32(150, 150, 150, static_cast<int>(stamp * 255));
     for (const ImVec2 d : {ImVec2(-1, -1), ImVec2(0, -1), ImVec2(1, -1), ImVec2(-1, 0),
                            ImVec2(1, 0), ImVec2(-1, 1), ImVec2(0, 1), ImVec2(1, 1)})
         dl->AddText(font, size, ImVec2(at.x + d.x, at.y + d.y), outline, text);
@@ -201,10 +211,10 @@ void draw_status_marker(App& app) {
     const float top = (io.DisplaySize.y - line_h * lines) * 0.5f;
     draw_outlined_line(version.c_str(), io.DisplaySize.x * 0.5f, top, kStatusAlpha);
     draw_outlined_line(data.c_str(), io.DisplaySize.x * 0.5f, top + line_h, kStatusAlpha);
-    // Fully opaque where the other two are half: this one is the only line here that is asking
-    // for something rather than reporting state.
+    // Drawn like the other two: what marks this line out is that it is only there at all when
+    // something is waiting.
     if (!news.empty())
-        draw_outlined_line(news.c_str(), io.DisplaySize.x * 0.5f, top + line_h * 2, 1.0f);
+        draw_outlined_line(news.c_str(), io.DisplaySize.x * 0.5f, top + line_h * 2, kStatusAlpha);
     ImGui::PopFont();
     ImGui::End();
 }
@@ -1087,7 +1097,11 @@ void App::update_overlay_placement() {
     }
 
     bool moved = g.x != game_x_ || g.y != game_y_ || g.w != game_w_ || g.h != game_h_;
-    if (game_present_ && overlay_.visible() && !moved) {
+    // With the marker off there is nothing to draw while idle, so the window stays unmapped
+    // instead of mapped over an empty rectangle. Geometry is still tracked below, so the first
+    // panel to open is placed against the game as it is now.
+    const bool want_visible = screen_ != Screen::Hidden || config_.status_marker;
+    if (game_present_ && overlay_.visible() == want_visible && !moved) {
         // Back from another application without the window having moved: still owed the
         // keyboard, since it was lost to whatever was in front and no window manager will hand
         // it to a window it does not manage.
@@ -1101,9 +1115,9 @@ void App::update_overlay_placement() {
     game_h_ = g.h;
 
     place_overlay();
-    if (!overlay_.visible()) {
-        overlay_.set_visible(true);
-        overlay_set_click_through(overlay_.window(), screen_ == Screen::Hidden);
+    if (overlay_.visible() != want_visible) {
+        overlay_.set_visible(want_visible);
+        if (want_visible) overlay_set_click_through(overlay_.window(), screen_ == Screen::Hidden);
     }
     if (screen_ != Screen::Hidden) {
         SDL_RaiseWindow(overlay_.window());
@@ -1369,6 +1383,9 @@ void App::set_screen(Screen s) {
     if (!active) copy_pending_ = false; // nothing left to fill in; stop watching the clipboard
     place_overlay();                    // each screen has its own geometry; apply before showing
     if (active && !overlay_.visible()) overlay_.set_visible(true);
+    // Closing with the marker turned off leaves nothing to show, so unmap rather than sit
+    // mapped and empty over the game.
+    if (!active && !config_.status_marker && overlay_.visible()) overlay_.set_visible(false);
     // The window stays mapped; interactivity is what changes. Idle == click-through
     // so input passes to the game; active == catch input and raise to the front.
     overlay_set_click_through(overlay_.window(), !active);

src/config.cpp

@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ void read_into(Config& c, const json& j) {
     c.inventory_edge = j.value("inventory_edge", c.inventory_edge);
     c.status_right = j.value("status_right", c.status_right);
     c.status_bottom = j.value("status_bottom", c.status_bottom);
+    c.status_marker = j.value("status_marker", c.status_marker);
     c.reduce_transparency = j.value("reduce_transparency", c.reduce_transparency);
     c.auto_update = j.value("auto_update", c.auto_update);
     c.debug_log = j.value("debug_log", c.debug_log);
@@ -125,6 +126,7 @@ bool Config::save() const {
     j["inventory_edge"] = inventory_edge;
     j["status_right"] = status_right;
     j["status_bottom"] = status_bottom;
+    j["status_marker"] = status_marker;
     j["reduce_transparency"] = reduce_transparency;
     j["auto_update"] = auto_update;
     j["debug_log"] = debug_log;

src/config.hpp

@@ -93,6 +93,11 @@ struct Config {
     float status_right = 0.110f;  ///< marker centre's distance from the right edge, ÷ game height
     float status_bottom = 0.070f; ///< marker centre's distance from the bottom edge, ÷ game height
 
+    /// Draw that marker at all. On by default — it is the only sign the overlay is running —
+    /// but it is text over the game's HUD, so it is a knob. Off leaves the idle overlay
+    /// unmapped entirely; nothing else about a price check changes.
+    bool status_marker = true;
+
     /// Draw every panel's background solid instead of letting the game through it. An
     /// accessibility setting: text over a moving background is the hard case this answers.
     /// Opacity and not a blur — see ui/theme.hpp for why a blur is not available to us.

src/screens/settings_screen.cpp

@@ -428,6 +428,12 @@ void general_tab(App& app, Config& c) {
     ImGui::PushTextWrapPos(0.0f);
     ImGui::TextDisabled("%s", ui::text(ui::Msg::ReduceTransparencyHelp));
     ImGui::PopTextWrapPos();
+
+    ImGui::Checkbox(row(ui::text(ui::Msg::StatusMarker)), &c.status_marker);
+    row_gutter();
+    ImGui::PushTextWrapPos(0.0f);
+    ImGui::TextDisabled("%s", ui::text(ui::Msg::StatusMarkerHelp));
+    ImGui::PopTextWrapPos();
 }
 
 void price_check_tab(App& app, Config& c) {

src/ui/strings.cpp

@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ constexpr const char* kEnglish[]{
 
     "Reduce transparency",
     "Draws the panels solid instead of letting the game show through them.",
+    "Show the status indicator",
+    "The version and data lines over the mana globe. Turning them off hides nothing else \xe2\x80\x94 "
+    "price checks still open as usual.",
 
     "Docks beside whichever game panel the cursor was over.",
     "Width",

src/ui/strings.hpp

@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ enum class Msg : uint16_t {
 
     ReduceTransparency,
     ReduceTransparencyHelp,
+    StatusMarker,
+    StatusMarkerHelp,
 
     PanelHelp,
     PanelWidth,