TCMenu Designer Turbo: A New Era for Arduino Embedded Menu Design by dave

the designer is now freely available on the web

TcMenu Designer Turbo is now available on the web. No need to download a desktop app, simply visit the above URL in your browser. You can also go through the getting started and examples page.

This is a clean break from the desktop version, offering a more streamlined and accessible experience for menu design. It is backward-compatible with the desktop version and uses the same underlying generator code, just hosted on the web.

We had to move away from the desktop version because it was a challenge to keep it maintained, both in terms of cost and time. Further, it is not very accessible, requiring a download to build even a starter example. As time has gone by, the main reason for the static menus definitions has somewhat dissipated, meaning for many who accept one off dynamic allocation of items in setup using builder syntax, round tripping will be a thing of the past.

This site has had a major overhaul

In addition to the new tcMenu Designer, the entire TheCodersCorner site has been overhauled onto a modern CMS. Pages load faster, navigation is clearer, and all documentation has been reorganised to make it easier to find what you need. This upgrade also gives us a solid foundation for future guides, examples, and embedded tooling.

Importantly, the ecosystem is stable

You can rest assured that the tcMenu ecosystem is now stable and well-supported. We have listened to feedback and our priorities are now:

1. Make web designer as easy to to use as possible, adding more hardware with some known boards pre-configured.
2. Make sure we keep track of new boards and hardware appropriate to the libraries.
3. Simplify the generated code so that round-tripping becomes optional, many may choose to maintain manually. Only coming back to designer if the hardware significantly changes.
4. Clean up the documentation and examples. (You'll see we have started on that)
5. Improve the performance of heavier and slower displays by making them asynchronous. (E.G., I2C and eInk)
6. Ensure that rotary encoders and other inputs work reliably in both I2C and direct pin mode for all platforms.
7. Come back and revisit the remote control features as soon as things stabilize.

There's a community ecosystem in place

For makers and hobbyists, there's a growing community of users and contributors. We have discussions on github, see our community getting started page.

We provide services around our libraries

We are the company behind tcMenu and other popular libraries, who better than us to help you get started with:

• Embedded firmware consultancy
• Training and support around our products