Themes & Profiles — OpenHamClock Manual

Themes

A theme controls the overall colour palette and visual style of the dashboard. Switch themes at any time from Settings → Appearance → Theme — the change takes effect immediately with no restart needed.

Theme	Description	Best for
Dark	Deep navy background with blue and cyan accents. The default. Clean and modern.	Most shack conditions. Easy on the eyes in a dim room.
Light	White/grey background with blue accents. Standard web-app feel.	Bright rooms, outdoor use, laptop screens in daylight.
Legacy	Green text on a pure black background — classic terminal/phosphor look.	Operators who grew up with DOS and VT100 terminals. Maximum nostalgia.
Retro	Windows 3.1 / early 90s aesthetic with bevelled panels and system colours.	Shack humour. Surprisingly readable. Great conversation starter.
Custom	You control every colour via CSS custom properties.	Club stations with a house colour scheme; personal branding; accessibility needs.

🎨 Screenshot: Theme switcher showing all five themes assets/img/screenshots/themes.png

All five built-in themes side by side: Dark, Light, Legacy, Retro, and Custom. The theme selector lives in Settings → Appearance.

Creating a custom theme

Select Custom as your theme, then open Settings → Appearance → Edit Custom CSS. You can override any CSS custom property. A minimal example that changes the primary accent colour to a club's house amber:

Custom CSS

:root {
  --sidebar-active: #f59e0b;          /* amber active nav link */
  --sidebar-active-bg: #292118;       /* dark amber sidebar highlight */
  --link: #f59e0b;                      /* amber links */
  --badge-feature: #b45309;            /* darker amber badges */
}

Changes apply live as you type. All CSS custom properties are documented in the Reference section.

Layouts

A layout determines how panels are arranged on screen. Switch layouts from Settings → Appearance → Layout.

Modern Three-column grid: left sidebar for DX Cluster and propagation data, large map in the centre, right sidebar for POTA/SOTA, space weather, and rig info. Optimised for widescreen monitors (1920px+). The recommended default.

Classic Inspired by the original WB0OEW HamClock. Black background, large coloured numeric displays for SFI/K/SSN, full-width map. Purist and readable from a distance.

Dockable A windowed, drag-and-drop interface. Every panel is a floating window that can be moved, resized, docked to any edge, or tabbed with other panels. Maximum flexibility for power users with large or multi-monitor setups.

Tablet Optimised for 10–13" touchscreens. Larger tap targets, simplified navigation, single-column panel stacking below the map.

Compact Minimal UI for smaller screens and mobile phones. Essential panels only, no sidebars.

EmComm Emergency Communications layout. Full-screen map with APRS station positions, NWS weather alerts, FEMA shelter locations, and a net check-in roster. Designed for served agency activations and public service events.

💡

Dockable layout for multi-monitor shacks

If you run two monitors, the Dockable layout lets you spread panels across both screens. Tear the WSJT-X decode panel out to your secondary monitor, keep the map and DX Cluster on your primary. OpenHamClock remembers the layout of every panel between sessions.

Showing and Hiding Panels

Within any layout, individual panels can be toggled on or off. Open Settings → Panels for a complete checklist of every available panel. Panels you never use can be hidden to reduce visual clutter.

In the Dockable layout, hidden panels can be restored at any time from the Panels menu without resetting your entire layout.

Profiles

A profile is a named snapshot of your entire dashboard configuration: layout, theme, visible panels, map layers, filters, unit preferences — everything. Switching profiles instantly restores a saved configuration, making it trivial to switch between very different operating modes.

Creating a profile

Configure the dashboard exactly as you want it

Set the layout, theme, visible panels, DX Cluster filters, map layers, and any other settings.
Open Settings → Profiles → Save Current as Profile

Enter a name for the profile (e.g. "Contest Weekend", "POTA Hunting", "EmComm Event").
Switch profiles any time

Open Settings → Profiles and click the profile name to load it instantly. Your previous configuration is automatically saved as "Last used" so you can switch back.

Profile use cases

Profile name	Layout	Theme	What's enabled
Daily DX	Modern	Dark	DX Cluster, World Map, Space Weather, POTA, PSKReporter
Contest Weekend	Modern	Dark	DX Cluster (single band), Band Conditions, Contests panel, Rig Control
POTA Activating	Compact	Light	POTA panel, WSJT-X (FT8), World Map, Rig Control
EmComm Event	EmComm	Dark	APRS tracking, NWS Alerts, FEMA Shelters, Net roster, Weather
Satellite Operating	Modern	Dark	Satellites panel, World Map (with satellite layer), Rig Control (with Doppler)

Sharing Profiles

Profiles are stored as JSON in your browser's localStorage (or in data/settings.json if Settings Sync is enabled). To share a profile with a club member or another device:

Open Settings → Profiles → Export to download a .json file.
Send it to the other operator.
They open Settings → Profiles → Import and select the file.

This is useful for club stations where multiple operators share the same Pi or server — each member can import their preferred profile and switch to it when they sit down at the radio.