kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[nnn <nnn4000@xxxxx>]

Some time ago after short discussion on librarians mailing list it was 
decided to change default reference and value fields of footprints and 
move values to F.Fab layer.
I think it was bad decision. I'm asking here to get more opinions.

Full names of components can be long and their length is unpredictable 
so it's hard to set size of value so that it's not extending footprints 
outline and isn't smaller that necessary.
It's better to have footprints outline with refdes within on F.Fab (IPC 
calls it "assembly") - it's quite common (this kind of documentation can 
be found in service manuals) and it's extremely helpful with hand 
soldering, servicing, measurements when silkscreen isn't (it may be 
incomplete or ugly when miniaturization requires it)
Also there is need to keep values on silkscreen because sometimes it's 
good to have them printed on a board. Before changes user could select 
"force plotting of invisible values/references", now it's broken. It's 
also common to have selected values on a board and it's more intuitive 
to set them visible than to change layer.

Do you agree? Can I move values back to silkscreen? Can I also add %R on 
F.Fab and start adding assembly outline to libraries (examples attached)?

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