Started getting down and dirty with Themer last night from a designer's standpoint. I know some of these issues can be solved by theming the majority on my home pc, but i wanted to point out some things that are missing that would make pure mobile theming possible/easier (that's what i want out of this or any theming apps. i can easily create the majority of my themes on a pc when going the apex/nova route, but i want to theme strictly on my phone which is what i assume is the main point/appeal of launchers like Themer).
OK, here they are:
1) Icons - I'd like to have control over my icons while theming. Even giving us an option to select from Themer's icons would be nice. As it currently stands, you have to choose icon images from and only from your photo gallery. If we can't import custom icon packs, the ability to select from Themer's icons would be great.
2) Everything Widget "Layers" - This is a great feature, but can be polished. I tried to edit some existing widgets (google play theme, wanted to put my own image/slideshow instead of the random google banner images) and once i put the new image up it covered up the "google now" search bar. There are currently no options or toggles to change layers in the widgets.
3) Layout Issues - When i am working on putting up new widgets the orientation is all wacky. Sometimes it'll stagger the widget grid onto the left or right page, meaning that it isn't centered on the screen i'm working on. makes aligning and tweaking the layout really tough.
That's all i've got now. Any fixes or suggestions are welcome, but i thought it'd be helpful to roll up some of the issues we as themers are having. I REALLY love being able to just throw a new theme on my phone at any given time and the available themes are all nice looking and pretty tight when it comes to performance....i just can't help but adjust and tweak once i get my hands on them >.<
Related
Is it possible to have too many widgets on a screen? I have no clue what I'm talking about here, but this is what is wrong. I've got my homescreen set up with Desktop Visualizer 1x1 widgets for my Semi Sense icons. There's nine of them, then my Battery Monitor Pro Widget, my aTAKEphONE widget, and then four regular icons to various programs. Every once in awhile one of my icons (not the Desktop Visualizer widget icons), namely the XDA icon, becomes a normal XDA icon, no longer one of my Semi Sense icons. I have to restart LauncherPro to get it to show the normal Semi Sense icon. Now, my aTAKEphONE widget is going blank. This is since the latest update of the program. It's there, but nonfunctional, the only way I can get it back is to go into the widget settings and back out, it shows up again. Probably two different issues, andI'm working with the aTAKEphONE developer, but I'm kinda wondering.....
If you've got this far, this is what I was thinking, that somehow I'm running out of memory on my Samsung Captivate, and things are getting bumped out of display memory - is that at all possible? I'm pretty sure these are two separate issues, the program was updated and something was changed, but the XDA icon changing is an ongoing problem. I appreciate any thoughts, I'm trying to learn here as I futz around.
Of course now that I've called the doctor it's fine but if I can get a screen shot I'll post it here.
reinbeau said:
Is it possible to have too many widgets on a screen? I have no clue what I'm talking about here, but this is what is wrong. I've got my homescreen set up with Desktop Visualizer 1x1 widgets for my Semi Sense icons. There's nine of them, then my Battery Monitor Pro Widget, my aTAKEphONE widget, and then four regular icons to various programs. Every once in awhile one of my icons (not the Desktop Visualizer widget icons), namely the XDA icon, becomes a normal XDA icon, no longer one of my Semi Sense icons. I have to restart LauncherPro to get it to show the normal Semi Sense icon. Now, my aTAKEphONE widget is going blank. This is since the latest update of the program. It's there, but nonfunctional, the only way I can get it back is to go into the widget settings and back out, it shows up again. Probably two different issues, andI'm working with the aTAKEphONE developer, but I'm kinda wondering.....
If you've got this far, this is what I was thinking, that somehow I'm running out of memory on my Samsung Captivate, and things are getting bumped out of display memory - is that at all possible? I'm pretty sure these are two separate issues, the program was updated and something was changed, but the XDA icon changing is an ongoing problem. I appreciate any thoughts, I'm trying to learn here as I futz around.
Of course now that I've called the doctor it's fine but if I can get a screen shot I'll post it here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to give a diff launcher a shot as it is not unheard of for LP to have issues when one page is loaded with widgets.
IN PROGRESS
HOW TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL UCCW SKINS
0. Contents
Introduction
About UCCW
Basic UCCW Usage
How to build skins
Designing
1. Introduction
I am aware that there are in fact many other UCCW guides out there. I won't be focusing much on how to do this or that... What I want to teach you is how to create beautiful and functional skins. As such the sections of this tutorial focusing on the actual widget building will be short, and may not cover everything that UCCW offers, but the design section will have a lot more content
2. About UCCW
UCCW or Ultimate Custom Clock Widget is a software developed by our own vineetksirohi.
XDA link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1386987
Play store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.vineetsirohi.customwidget
vineetksirohi said:
Make your own widgets easily in a WYSIWYG (What-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor. Use custom layout, fonts, images, shapes, interesting objects like series clocks, weather information with icons,
unread sms and gmail counts, battery information with bars and pie graphs, analog clocks, TASKER VARIABLES and more. Use hotspots to assign actions to widget.
Does not require programming, editing xml files or rooting your phone. Share your creations easily either through uzip files or make apks and post on Google play.
Or keep your unique widgets to yourself and tease others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3. Basic usage
UCCW has two parts. One is the widget that is added to the homescreen, the other is the app in the launcher that can be used to:
1. Import skins
2. Edit skins
3. Export skins
The editor has several features
1. The menu bar above
Add/remove button - add or remove various widget components such as date and time etc.
Component selector - select which component you are currently editing
The sort button - choose which components appear above the others
3. The preview area - allows you to move the currently selected component ( don't use this, it's better to move the components more precisely)
4. The editing area - has several panes which can be navigated by sliding to the left and right.
5. The menu. - the most important things here are the save button and the option to turn hotspot mode on and off. When hotspot mode is off you can edit widgets by clicking them on the homescreen, when it is on you can use the shortcuts defined in the skin.
As far as the features of UCCW that I generally use:
0. General - background, hotspots that can be assigned to different actions
1. Clock - as time or by separate parts (hours, minutes)
2. Date
3. Battery - circle, bar, status, level
4. Calendar - next event time, next event text
5. Notifications - missed calls, text messages, unread gmail, next alarm time
4. How to build skins
Please refer to the following videos by mycolorscreen on youtube
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5X0ZCI5Kg0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5c2Sa9UGG0
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz2zf_AJRFc
At the end of this you should have a basic idea of how to deal with the different components. Now time for me to add my part
Advice:
1. Always move components so they align with each other, pixel for pixel.
2. Always start your widget with a nice good size like 400 x 100 for a 4x1 widget. This is to make it easier for you to create background images
3. Be consistent with your use of colors and font size, unless variety is part of your design
4. Try to size components appropriately so that they stay within the bounds of the widget.
5. Designing
IMPORTANT: a UCCW skin without a proper background or forethought design will always look ugly/disappoint you. You must first spend a good amount of time looking for inspiration and sketching initial designs before you execute and make the skin.
i. Inspiration
Look for user interfaces in movies (like Iron Man) and websites such as Google images, deviantart, or look at desktop customization software such as Rainmeter. Don't attempt to copy someone elses work. Instead, choose elements of other works you like, and combine them with your imagination.
ii. Initial design
Whip out your pencil and paper, or if you're good enough, a tool like Photoshop or Fireworks. I totally recommend pencil and paper as it is the fastest. Sketch a design. Don't attempt to make UI elements too small (in the name of readability). Don't make it too fancy unless you know it's gonna work out for you. Don't feel bad if your first designs look lackluster. It's a learning process and your first skins might not look as you want, but you will reach there eventually.
iii. More advice
Start with basic widgets such as date/time/battery. The first thing to do is to set your wallpaper to a contrasting color, and then being positioning the text and other components. Next, create a background image. I recommend Paint.NET to create it.( http://www.getpaint.net/ ). Ideally, the background should provide bordering for the various components of the widget, and it should be designed in a way that it does not lose quality if used on a higher quality screen (simply: avoid curved edges and stick to rectangular/straight designs). The most part of the background image should also be slightly transparent as this looks the best.
iv. Yet more advice
You will need time to play around with your widget and experience it to see if it looks good and it it handles different content nicely (i.e. different lengths of text in a component). Try to use it for at least a couple days before you release.
Good tutorial!
(SUPER BUMP)
how to export widgets or skins i make
I was wondering if themer can allow us to put small pieces of images, or shapes into a screen, to make screens more eye-catching.
Why i´m asking this?
Some themes (like SKY theme) are just GREAT on images, but they uses dividers, ribbons, trays, or boxes, all drawed together with the wallpaper. Some guys, like me can be free to change just the picture, but keep the other graphic elements, shapes and lines that make the theme so interesting.
Other lack of funcionality is that sometimes I try to add a new page to a theme, and we have problems to make it 'similar' to the other ones existent on the theme, due to wallpaper differences and other things... One-click theming is awesome, but some guys cant stand it and go ahead with customizations :cyclops:
Do you themer guys think this might be a good idea or this can be a problem for memory comsumption point.
leandrocn said:
I was wondering if themer can allow us to put small pieces of images, or shapes into a screen, to make screens more eye-catching.
Why i´m asking this?
Some themes (like SKY theme) are just GREAT on images, but they uses dividers, ribbons, trays, or boxes, all drawed together with the wallpaper. Some guys, like me can be free to change just the picture, but keep the other graphic elements, shapes and lines that make the theme so interesting.
Other lack of funcionality is that sometimes I try to add a new page to a theme, and we have problems to make it 'similar' to the other ones existent on the theme, due to wallpaper differences and other things... One-click theming is awesome, but some guys cant stand it and go ahead with customizations :cyclops:
Do you themer guys think this might be a good idea or this can be a problem for memory comsumption point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just forgot it... i found shapes inside everything widget ...
leandrocn said:
Just forgot it... i found shapes inside everything widget ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have fun, once Zooper Widget also becomes integrated you'll be able to create shapes there too :laugh:
When I try to add a zoomed widget in the same area as my weather widget, the weather widget was pushed off the screen and I can't get it back. Sure I can just try to make a new one but it's still running somewhere off the screen. Is there a way to list all widgets you have on screen? And delete them in that list? Or from a list default them to center of screen? I know the themer widgets can stack so why are they moving on their own? This is especially true if I try to edit a theme I download. As soon as I press configure or resize or add something the theme goes ape **** and everything just moves. Not using a custom dpi. Stock Rom galaxy note 3.
vitessex said:
When I try to add a zoomed widget in the same area as my weather widget, the weather widget was pushed off the screen and I can't get it back. Sure I can just try to make a new one but it's still running somewhere off the screen. Is there a way to list all widgets you have on screen? And delete them in that list? Or from a list default them to center of screen? I know the themer widgets can stack so why are they moving on their own? This is especially true if I try to edit a theme I download. As soon as I press configure or resize or add something the theme goes ape **** and everything just moves. Not using a custom dpi. Stock Rom galaxy note 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi vitessex,
We're not too sure how this happens, as testing it now reveals that a widget cannot push another one off the screen. However in your unlucky case, we suggest going into Themer's main settings - Advanced - Desktop - enable Allow overlapping Widgets. This should then just cause the widgets to overlap instead of jumping around.
Which downloaded themes are causing this? Most new themes should have the overlapping widget setting enabled to prevent this issue.
ThemerSupport said:
Hi vitessex,
We're not too sure how this happens, as testing it now reveals that a widget cannot push another one off the screen. However in your unlucky case, we suggest going into Themer's main settings - Advanced - Desktop - enable Allow overlapping Widgets. This should then just cause the widgets to overlap instead of jumping around.
Which downloaded themes are causing this? Most new themes should have the overlapping widget setting enabled to prevent this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to do it with all the themes I have downloaded. And even happened on the one I am making myself. But currently I will show an example with the theme "Coordinate." The overlapping Widgets option is enabled and this is what happens when I add a widget or edit in any way really.
vitessex said:
It seems to do it with all the themes I have downloaded. And even happened on the one I am making myself. But currently I will show an example with the theme "Coordinate." The overlapping Widgets option is enabled and this is what happens when I add a widget or edit in any way really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. There might have been a bug during installation. Try this:
1. Uninstall Themer.
2. Delete the /sdcard/MyColorScreen/ folder (removing the Exported folder within it if you saved any themes).
3. Reinstall Themer.
Let me know how this goes.
- Marco
So I have been using Next Launcher for three years. I love themes and creating my own UI. I hide docs and create themes that are almost completely free of standard icons. To do this I use Zooper Widget 4x4 (or any other that I extend from top to bottom and side to side. I fill the entire screen and as I said even hide the dock as well as the status bar. Well the other day as I was working on an existing one the 4x4 widget (largest widget available) stopped filling the screen. Even when I go to resize, it will not allow me to completely fill the screen.
I have tried the following to fix:
Reboot (sim card removed)
Uninstalled Next Launcher (and zooper) then re installed.
Tried other launchers (they all fixed the problem however I need Next as it is the only launcher I am aware of that allows you to literally place icons anywhere with ZERO grid). I even used Next Light and again, the problem was gone. Problem here, after the trial period you can no longer "hide Dock".
I am certain it is a Next Launcher issue but have yet to fix it. Im wondering...
Anyone else having this problem? Does anyone have any ideas and or does anyone know of any other launchers with the same freedoms?
Attached is a photo of my latest UI as an example as to why I need complete icon placement freedom as well as no boarders.
Thanks in advance.
cjohnson76 said:
So I have been using Next Launcher for three years. I love themes and creating my own UI. I hide docs and create themes that are almost completely free of standard icons. To do this I use Zooper Widget 4x4 (or any other that I extend from top to bottom and side to side. I fill the entire screen and as I said even hide the dock as well as the status bar. Well the other day as I was working on an existing one the 4x4 widget (largest widget available) stopped filling the screen. Even when I go to resize, it will not allow me to completely fill the screen.
I have tried the following to fix:
Reboot (sim card removed)
Uninstalled Next Launcher (and zooper) then re installed.
Tried other launchers (they all fixed the problem however I need Next as it is the only launcher I am aware of that allows you to literally place icons anywhere with ZERO grid). I even used Next Light and again, the problem was gone. Problem here, after the trial period you can no longer "hide Dock".
I am certain it is a Next Launcher issue but have yet to fix it. Im wondering...
Anyone else having this problem? Does anyone have any ideas and or does anyone know of any other launchers with the same freedoms?
Attached is a photo of my latest UI as an example as to why I need complete icon placement freedom as well as no boarders.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
This section is for Themer-related queries only, sorry about that