EVCC UI Modernization: Liquid Glass Design Implementation

Nov 23, 2025 by Alex Johnson 58 views

Modernizing EVCC UI with Liquid Glass Design

The user interface (UI) is the primary touchpoint between users and any application, making its design crucial for user experience. In the realm of Electric Vehicle Charge Control (EVCC), a modern and visually appealing UI can significantly enhance usability and user satisfaction. This article delves into the modernization of the EVCC UI through the implementation of a liquid glass design, aiming to visually upgrade the interface while maintaining its existing functionality and layout.

Understanding Liquid Glass Design

Liquid glass design is a contemporary UI trend that simulates the appearance of glass with subtle refractions, blurs, and highlights. It creates a visually appealing and immersive experience, adding a touch of elegance and modernity to digital interfaces. The core concepts of liquid glass design, as described in articles like the one from Kube.io, involve using CSS and SVG to create refraction effects, blurring, and specular highlights, mimicking the look of real glass. Implementing this design in the EVCC UI can provide a significant aesthetic upgrade without disrupting the existing functionality.

Key Elements of Liquid Glass Design

To effectively implement liquid glass design, several key elements need to be considered:

SVG Refraction Filters (feDisplacementMap): These filters are crucial for creating the refractive effect that is characteristic of liquid glass. The feDisplacementMap filter distorts the underlying content, simulating light passing through glass. By carefully adjusting the parameters of this filter, such as the scale and displacement map, the intensity and direction of the refraction can be controlled.
Backdrop-filter: This CSS property is essential for applying blurring and refraction to UI panels. It blurs the content behind the element, creating the frosted glass look. When combined with SVG refraction filters, it enhances the liquid glass effect, making UI elements appear as if they are made of glass with light subtly bending through them.
Rim Lights and Specular Highlights: Adding soft rim lights or specular highlights around the edges of glass elements can significantly enhance the realism of the effect. These highlights mimic the way light reflects off the edges of glass, providing a subtle yet impactful visual cue that reinforces the glass-like appearance.
Convex or Squircle Shapes: Using convex or squircle-like bezel shapes for cards, buttons, and panels can complement the liquid glass effect. These shapes soften the edges of UI elements, making them appear more organic and fluid, which aligns well with the aesthetic of liquid glass.

Applying Liquid Glass Design to EVCC UI

Modernizing the EVCC UI with liquid glass design involves a systematic approach, ensuring that the new styles integrate seamlessly with the existing structure and functionality. Here’s a detailed look at the steps and considerations involved:

Step-by-Step Implementation

Initial Assessment:
- Begin by assessing the existing EVCC UI components, including dashboard cards, dialogs, side panels, and buttons. Identify the elements that would benefit most from the liquid glass effect. Consider the layout, structure, and interactions of these elements to ensure that the design changes do not disrupt the user experience. This initial assessment helps in planning the implementation and prioritizing the UI elements to be modernized.
SVG Filter Integration:
- Integrate SVG refraction filters using feDisplacementMap as the cornerstone of the liquid glass effect. The article from Kube.io provides a detailed explanation of how these filters work and how to implement them. The key is to experiment with different parameters to achieve the desired level of refraction. This involves setting up the SVG filter definitions and referencing them in the CSS styles.
```
<svg>
  <filter id="liquid-glass">
    <feTurbulence type="fractalNoise" baseFrequency="0.02" numOctaves="3" result="noise"></feTurbulence>
    <feDisplacementMap in="SourceGraphic" in2="noise" scale="20" xChannelSelector="R" yChannelSelector="G"></feDisplacementMap>
  </filter>
</svg>
```
  - This SVG snippet defines a filter named liquid-glass that uses fractal noise and a displacement map to create the refraction effect. The scale attribute controls the intensity of the refraction, and the xChannelSelector and yChannelSelector determine which color channels are used for the displacement.
Backdrop-filter Application:
- Apply the backdrop-filter CSS property to the selected UI elements to add blurring and refraction. This property blurs the content behind the element, creating the frosted glass effect. Combine this with the SVG filters to enhance the liquid glass appearance.
```
.liquid-glass-panel {
  backdrop-filter: blur(10px);
  -webkit-backdrop-filter: blur(10px); /* For Safari */
  filter: url("#liquid-glass");
}
```
  - In this CSS example, the backdrop-filter property is used to apply a blur effect to the content behind the element with the class liquid-glass-panel. The -webkit-backdrop-filter is included for Safari compatibility. The filter property references the SVG filter defined earlier, combining the blur effect with the refraction.
Rim Light and Highlight Implementation:
- Incorporate soft rim lights or specular highlights around the edges of the UI elements to enhance the glass-like appearance. This can be achieved using CSS box-shadows or gradients to simulate the way light reflects off glass edges.
```
.liquid-glass-panel {
  box-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
}
```
  - Here, a subtle box-shadow is added to the liquid-glass-panel class to create a soft highlight around the edges, mimicking the specular reflection on glass.
Shape Refinement:
- Use convex or squircle shapes for cards, buttons, and panels to complement the liquid glass effect. This can be achieved using CSS border-radius to round the corners of the elements.
```
.liquid-glass-panel {
  border-radius: 20px;
}
```
  - This CSS rule applies a border-radius of 20 pixels to the liquid-glass-panel, creating rounded corners that soften the overall appearance of the element.
Performance Optimization:
- Ensure high performance by optimizing filter resolution, sampling, and displacement maps. High-resolution filters and complex displacement maps can be resource-intensive, so it’s important to find a balance between visual quality and performance. Use pre-generated displacement textures if required to reduce the computational load.
Compatibility and Functionality Testing:
- Maintain full compatibility and functionality across the UI. All buttons, forms, controls, and charts must continue to behave exactly as before. Thoroughly test each element to ensure that the new styles do not introduce any regressions or breakages.
Fallback Styles:
- Add fallback styles for browsers that do not support backdrop-filter or SVG filters. These fallbacks should degrade gracefully to a simpler translucent/glassmorphism look, ensuring a consistent user experience across different browsers.
```
.liquid-glass-panel {
  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
}

@supports (backdrop-filter: blur(10px)) or (-webkit-backdrop-filter: blur(10px)) {
  .liquid-glass-panel {
    background-color: transparent;
  }
}
```
  - This example demonstrates how to provide a fallback style for browsers that do not support backdrop-filter. The default background color is set to a translucent white, and the @supports rule is used to apply the backdrop-filter only if it is supported.
Accessibility Considerations:
- Ensure accessible contrast and readability on top of liquid glass surfaces. The translucency and blurring effects can reduce the contrast between text and background, so it’s important to choose appropriate colors and text styles to maintain readability.
Centralization and Reusability:
- Centralize SVG filter definitions and provide reusable classes such as .liquid-glass-panel and .liquid-glass-button. This promotes consistency and makes it easier to apply the liquid glass effect to different UI elements.
Documentation:
- Optionally include a short README or documentation block explaining how the effect works and how to adjust parameters like refraction intensity, highlight strength, and filter scaling. This helps other developers understand and maintain the code.

Performance Considerations

Implementing liquid glass effects can be computationally intensive, especially with high-resolution filters and complex displacement maps. To ensure a smooth user experience, consider the following performance optimizations:

Optimize Filter Resolution: Use the lowest filter resolution that still provides a visually pleasing effect. Lower resolutions require less processing power.
Sampling and Displacement Maps: Experiment with different sampling techniques and displacement maps to find the optimal balance between performance and visual quality. Pre-generated displacement textures can reduce the computational load.
Hardware Acceleration: Ensure that hardware acceleration is enabled for the browser to offload some of the processing to the GPU.
Profiling: Use browser developer tools to profile the performance of the UI and identify any bottlenecks.

Maintaining Compatibility and Accessibility

When implementing liquid glass design, it’s crucial to maintain compatibility across different browsers and ensure accessibility for all users. Here are some key considerations:

Browser Support: Check the compatibility of backdrop-filter and SVG filters with different browsers. Provide fallback styles for older browsers that do not support these features.
Contrast and Readability: Ensure that the contrast between text and background is sufficient for readability. Use appropriate colors and text styles to maintain accessibility.
Keyboard Navigation: Verify that all UI elements are navigable using the keyboard, and that focus states are clearly visible.
Screen Readers: Test the UI with screen readers to ensure that all content is accessible to users with visual impairments.

Conclusion

Modernizing the EVCC UI with liquid glass design can significantly enhance its visual appeal and user experience. By integrating SVG refraction filters, backdrop-filter, rim lights, and squircle shapes, the interface can achieve a contemporary and elegant look. However, it’s crucial to carefully consider performance, compatibility, and accessibility to ensure that the new design enhances rather than hinders the user experience. Thorough testing and optimization are essential for a successful implementation. By following the steps outlined in this article and continuously refining the design, the EVCC UI can be transformed into a visually stunning and user-friendly interface.

For further reading on advanced CSS techniques and UI design, check out MDN Web Docs, a comprehensive resource for web developers.