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Hello, On the CERN roadmap there is as an item saying "Study ergonomics of various commercial/proprietary PCB applications". In order to contribute to this, I have put on Dropbox some screenshots of the making of an overly simple circuit in Altium, DipTrace, Eagle, Fritzing, KiCad and some random images of the future Circuit Maker from Altium. These screenshots can serve as a basis for future usability improvements: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uaju73itwzo1bwp/AAAIBPxdBOzwIKvZvHzhvbCta?dl=0 The two main differences I have noticed in KiCad were the start screen and the workflow from schematic to PCB. Other differences included small windows by default, a big number of confirmation dialogs and some unusual naming (for example "Plot" to export Gerbers). A. Start screen ---------------------------------------- 1. Altium, Circuit Maker and Fritzing have a unified window where you can do File > New > Schematic. 2. DipTrace has buttons to open the Schematic Capture, PCB Layout, Component Editor and Pattern (= Footprint) Editor. 3. Eagle has a project manager where you can do File > New > Project, New > Schematic and New > Board. 4. KiCad is a mix between DipTrace and Eagle. It has 8 unlabeled icons to open the different programs and the ability to do File > New > Blank Project but no ability to create a schematic or PCB. B. Schematic to PCB ---------------------------------------- 1. Altium needs the .SchDoc and .PcbDoc to be in a .PrjPcb. You can then do Design > Update PCB Document and then Execute Changes which switches to the PCB tab (same window) with your parts to the right of the board outline. 2. DipTrace has a menu File > Convert to PCB which opens the PCB Layout program with your parts in the center of the screen (no board outline by default). 3. Eagle has a menu File > Switch to board which opens the Board window with your parts to the left of the board outline. 4. Fritzing has a PCB tab (same window) automatically updated with your parts on the top left of the board outline. 5. In KiCad, you need to open Tools > Generate Netlist File which opens Cvpcb to select the footprints of your components. Then you click File > Save and close the window. Back to the schematic, you need to open Tools > Layout Printed Circuit Board. In the PCB, you click Tools > Netlist, then Read Current Netlist and close the dialog. By default, your parts are stacked on top of each other in the center of the screen (no board outline). To improve the start screen, I have attached two easy suggestions. Let me know what you think of them, if someone wants to implement them or if I should create a branch myself. For further discussions, should I continue here or create Launchpad bugs or blueprints? And is there a usability team I can join (especially for this "wxPython based project manager")? Have a nice weekend! David Perrenoud
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