Stop Guessing Your YAML: Design Your reTerminal UI Visually

If you've ever configured a reTerminal from Pine64, you know the drill: you write YAML, flash the device, cross your fingers, and hope the buttons and screens show up where you imagined. It's a lot of back-and-forth. What if you could skip the guesswork and design your control panel first?

That's exactly what the ReTerminalDesigner tool lets you do. It's a simple, browser-based UI that turns the tedious process of writing configuration YAML into a visual drag-and-drop experience. You design the interface, and it gives you the perfect, ready-to-use YAML code.

What It Does

ReTerminalDesigner is a straightforward web application. You start with a pixel-perfect canvas representing the reTerminal's 720x1280 screen. From a sidebar, you drag UI components—like buttons, labels, or images—onto the canvas. You can position them, resize them, and edit their properties (like text, color, or GPIO pin assignments) in a panel. As you build, the tool continuously generates the corresponding YAML configuration in a panel right beside the canvas. No syntax errors, no misaligned coordinates.

Why It's Cool

The clever part is in the immediacy. This tool removes the biggest friction point in embedded UI projects: the feedback loop. You're not writing code that might produce a layout; you're building the layout itself. The generated YAML is guaranteed to be structurally correct for the reTerminal's pitft system.

It also understands the hardware. When you add a button, you can assign it to a specific GPIO pin directly in the designer. This tight integration between the visual placement and the hardware configuration means your design isn't just a mockup—it's a direct blueprint for your device's functionality.

How to Try It

The best part is there's nothing to install. The entire tool runs in your browser.

1. Head over to the ReTerminalDesigner GitHub repository.
2. Scroll down to the "GitHub Pages" section in the README and click the link, or just go directly to the live application.
3. Start dragging elements onto the screen. Watch the YAML update in real-time.
4. When you're done, copy the generated YAML from the output panel and use it in your reTerminal project.

Final Thoughts

As a developer, I appreciate tools that cut out the boring parts. ReTerminalDesigner doesn't try to do everything—it solves one specific problem exceptionally well. If you're prototyping a control panel, a kiosk, or any interactive display on the reTerminal, this can save you hours of tedious tweaking. It turns a finicky configuration task into a simple design session. Give it a spin for your next project; it might just become your first step.

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