Versions and projects · Chapter 15
Comparing versions
“What did the relaunch actually change?” The tab History answers that question precisely: which colour value, which font, which rule, and what it means for the checks.
The list of versions
On the left of the tab History stand all versions, the newest at the top. Each with name, origin (by hand, collected, over MCP or chosen by the client), the date it applies from or the mark Draft, the name of the person who published it, and the note. “Made from 2022” tells you which version it builds on.
Comparing two versions
On the right you choose From and To in two lists. A draft can be chosen just like a published version. From a draft's bar, Compare brings you straight here, with the draft against the version that applies.
What the comparison shows
For each part of the CI, that is colours, fonts, logos, sizes, rules, examples and dark mode, it shows what is new, what is gone and what changed. For changes you see every field with its value before and after, such as value, role, Pantone, weights, licence, ground or line height.
| For | In addition |
|---|---|
| Colours | the colour distance ΔE by CIEDE2000 between the old and the new value |
| Checks | which hints came in and which are fixed |
If the two versions are the same, the comparison says just that.
What it is good for
- Before publishing: did the draft make something worse, such as a contrast that used to be enough?
- For developers: which variables do they need to touch after a relaunch?
- For the client: a list of what changed that anyone can follow.
Programs get the same comparison over MCP with the tool compare_versions, see MCP.
Pavo saysA small colour distance between two versions is often not intent but a typo in the hex value. The comparison shows it before a printer finds it.