On older device forums they had categories that kept everything nice and organized and now it looks like it's all together and you just have to click on the prefix to filter? Is that just how it is now or have the categories just not been added yet?
It depends on each device, but yeah it's the most common layout now. You can easily filter on desktop though.
They need to add filters to the app or go back to how it used to be. This layout is disgusting in my opinion.
Agreed I hate the device layout I miss the categories
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At the moment I'm using LauncherPro, but I don't remember seeing an option for this in any other launchers.
It would be nice if we could specify different widget layouts for landscape/portrait, and if possible different grid sizes. Widgets never behave well when switching between orientations.
No idea if this is possible, but it could be handy.
That would be real nice. I have that same thing on mine when switching back and forth. I am not sure that would be possible either, but wouldn't bet against these guys here that it couldn't be. They do some really amazing stuff..
+1
I think I was able to do this with spb mobile shell on my win 6.5 Ph...
In retrospect, switching layouts is a hacky solution. None of the current phone-based launchers feel right on a tablet. VTL is decent but it still has the same core problem.
They're functional of course, and with 3.x and onwards it might be less of an issue. A completely unique launcher would probably be required to have a "desktop" that felt native to the form factor.
For the time being the best solution is probably just to lock to a single orientation. Moving away from the widget/grid system completely would be nice, but I'm not sure how much could be done within the current android framework.
Sweeter Home 2 does this. I've been using it for a while in the past for exactly this reason and just gave it another try. It's a public beta, so keep that in mind.
It lets you create your very own interface with independent layouts for portrait and landscape. It takes some time to get used to its complex edit mode but once you've figured it out, you can do some pretty neat stuff with it. Also, it syncs with an online database to automatically sort your apps in different categories
Sadly, there's no support for scrolling widgets. It's also pretty resource-heavy, so it gets killed pretty often and eats some battery. This can be improved by disabling automatic syncing, though.
Here are some screens of my setup. I can upload it as a theme if anyone wants to try it (Dunno if the theme thingy works as intended, though. Haven't tried it)
Hey looks nice. I'll be keeping an eye on that.
Arbelzapf said:
Here are some screens of my setup. I can upload it as a theme if anyone wants to try it (Dunno if the theme thingy works as intended, though. Haven't tried it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll have to give it a try...
I would like to make my homescreen look like the one attached.
This is a little mockup I have made. Even if I can get the shortcut list going on the side would be nice. I'm not so sure about the tiles after I finished drawing it.
Any ideas on widgets/launchers is appreciated before I have to actually code something myself. I have been trying to look for widgets etc. that can help me but have come up empty.
Things like this have been done before. Search Android Phone 7. I've never seen one with that app list sidebar. That may be a little hard to recreate but it isn't impossible.
Things you'd need: Icons, Desktop Visualizer, ADW EX or Launcher Pro Plus (Plus is needed for resizing widgets) Minimalistic Text, maybe Phantom Music Control. For the icons like "Games" or "Utilities" you may be able to link the DVR widget to an app called Folder Organizator. Or you could use a widget called SiMi Folder, which would make a shortcut on your homescreen that is like the iPhone's folder thing. You could make the icon of the SiMi Folder transparent.
This is going to take A LOT of resizing, which can get really boring. To avoid headaches, plan everything out before you start. If you want a widget above another widget, the widget you want on the bottom (background) needs to be placed BEFORE the widget you want in front (foreground). You are going to have to resize it over the other widget, not place it on top.
That's all I can think of for right now. The left side should be pretty easy. The right side on the other hand will be a little challenging. My best advice would be to start by making a big plain minimalistic text (MT) widget, then add each app name as a MT widget with a blank background (option is in the MT widget configuration menu) For some help, try the Hubs layout in the Asus Transformer Theme and App section. We have a nice thread there with a similar idea and people there will be more than willing to help. They are a lot better at home screen customization than me.
Anyways, awesome idea! If you make the icons, I'll be happy to help you recreate it!
Thanks for the reply. I've played around with Minimalistic Text and it looks promising, thanks. I had noticed it several times before, but it does not mention it can function to create normal shortcuts too.
Just buying ADW Launcher EX (first purchase, borrowing a debit card now), as I have been using the free version for a while. Will post an update when it goes through and I can play with resizing the widgets.
I am currently playing with Minimalistic Text and I have the text on the screen, but when I assigned the proper functions I found they overlap each other...
Anyone know how to avoid this? (They are created using 5x1 horizontal widgets)
BeaverusIV said:
I am currently playing with Minimalistic Text and I have the text on the screen, but when I assigned the proper functions I found they overlap each other...
Anyone know how to avoid this? (They are created using 5x1 horizontal widgets)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Resize the widgets. I dont know how its done in ADW but i think you can do it by long pressing them.
I have, they are the smallest they can go. The resize outline box is 1 unit high, but when I push the 'button' it shows a 2 unit high selection box...
I'll see if I can get a s/s of each box...
Edit: Nope, too tricky to get the timing.
reminds me of wp7
if you wanna something like that try Launcher 7
https://market.android.com/details?id=info.tikuwarez.launcher3
else you can use desktop visualizer (like mentioned before)
i am using desktop visualizer,too.
but i noticed when you have to restart your phone it takes a while to reload the widgets
How ever it's still fine
I used to use DVR when I first got my phone. The tile layout on the left was an experiment, I don't think I'll use it. The main thing was the right hand side; the list of shortcuts.
Well I worked around the overlapping issue by reapplying them in a different order so they underlap instead.
Now I'll work on another layout I like for the rest of my icons, thanks guys
PS: @restarting phone: Who does that?
Edit: For anyone who cares:
Use MT to make a 5x1 widget, use the vertical top alignment and both horizontal ones right.
Don't show background.
Choose custom layout and remove the three existing sections and add a 'static text' one from under Misc.
I choose normal (not default) text and change it to 30dip (that fits my applications nicely on my 800x480px screen).
Choose launch another application and choose the application you want to launch.
Start from the bottom of the screen and work your way up, placing the background last.
BeaverusIV said:
I used to use DVR when I first got my phone. The tile layout on the left was an experiment, I don't think I'll use it. The main thing was the right hand side; the list of shortcuts.
Well I worked around the overlapping issue by reapplying them in a different order so they underlap instead.
Now I'll work on another layout I like for the rest of my icons, thanks guys
PS: @restarting phone: Who does that?
Edit: For anyone who cares:
Use MT to make a 5x1 widget, use the vertical top alignment and both horizontal ones right.
Don't show background.
Choose custom layout and remove the three existing sections and add a 'static text' one from under Misc.
I choose normal (not default) text and change it to 30dip (that fits my applications nicely on my 800x480px screen).
Choose launch another application and choose the application you want to launch.
Start from the bottom of the screen and work your way up, placing the background last.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OO thanks! I'll wait til you finish the whole thing to try it out but it looks like its going to be awesome.
I'll post a new thread when I've accomplished it
Hi
is there any progress on this topic? is the new thread already open?
It's 12:40am here. A new thread will be made tomorrow after I've finished the homescreen.
One of the main things I've been missing since I made the switch from WebOS to android is that every launcher that I've found all of my apps are organized alphabetically. On the Palm pre you had multiple scrollable pages and you could organize your apps. All of your games on one, work on another, settings and utilities on another.
Does anyone know of a launcher or a way to make this possible? I made finding the right app so much quicker instead of scrolling through the alphabet or physically typing in to search for the app.
Any ideas or suggestions? Any other WebOS devotees feel me on this?
sbjohnny said:
One of the main things I've been missing since I made the switch from WebOS to android is that every launcher that I've found all of my apps are organized alphabetically. On the Palm pre you had multiple scrollable pages and you could organize your apps. All of your games on one, work on another, settings and utilities on another.
Does anyone know of a launcher or a way to make this possible? I made finding the right app so much quicker instead of scrolling through the alphabet or physically typing in to search for the app.
Any ideas or suggestions? Any other WebOS devotees feel me on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure other than making app folders on your homescreen.
sbjohnny said:
One of the main things I've been missing since I made the switch from WebOS to android is that every launcher that I've found all of my apps are organized alphabetically. On the Palm pre you had multiple scrollable pages and you could organize your apps. All of your games on one, work on another, settings and utilities on another.
Does anyone know of a launcher or a way to make this possible? I made finding the right app so much quicker instead of scrolling through the alphabet or physically typing in to search for the app.
Any ideas or suggestions? Any other WebOS devotees feel me on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is hard to put into words, so I apologize if my thoughts don't come out logically here...
I think that organizing your apps by type, like clusters of games and utilities, is what you use your homescreens for. The whole point of the app drawer is to organize them alphabetically. In my mind, if you could organize your app drawer by app type, your home screens and your app drawer would look almost identical. I'm not sure what the purpose of the app drawer would be.
I'm not sure if that made sense, but it does in my head, haha.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Dan, brilliant explanation and I agree with your point.
OP, using folders is all I can think of for you, as was already mentioned.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
There's a way to add tabs to the bottom where you see All, Frequent & Downloads. I don't remember the exact syntax for it but if you find a custom ROM that has it just open their '/system/customize/MNS/default.xml' file and search for the name of their extra tab. Then just edit your ROM likewise to add the tabs you want
I'm aware of both methods, I've found having as many icons as I would like on the homescreen tends to bog it down a little bit. Obviously the necessities are on the homescreens but I HATE the app drawer. On the Pre you could organize them just like widgets. Hold it down, move it where you want and it moves all the others for you.
The alphabetical just drives me nuts. I was hoping there was a launcher that had this option to just drap and drop apps wherever I want them in the app drawer. Open app drawer and theres the main, essential apps. Next page, some of my favorite games, next page all my bookmarks.
WebOS really was a great OS, it certainly did multitasking leaps and bounds better than my EVO4gLTE with 4 times the ram...no apps equals game over though.
scottspa74 said:
Dan, brilliant explanation and I agree with your point.
OP, using folders is all I can think of for you, as was already mentioned.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Scott, I'm glad that made some sense, haha. In my head it made sense, and then as I started to type it I was like, "uh oh, this isn't going well..." I hate that feeling of being unable to communicate what is in my brain.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Hi everyone, I am looking for a launcher/app that allows multiple horizontal scrollable docks. Does something like this exist? Or even a dock that can be placed in the middle of the home screen rather than the top or bottom. I guess I just assumed something like this existed.
You could have a 5x1 " games" row that would allow you to scroll through all your games. I would imaging it could hold approximately 7 apps total. And a "social" row that you could scroll through to access all social apps.
Seems like a very practical I idea if possible. I appreciate any input.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
You could create folders and organize your important apps that way.
Just drag one icon on top of another, and the launcher will create a new folder and ask you to name it.
Then add more similar apps to each folder.
That way you can have all your apps on your launcher desktop, organized in folders.
Yes, simi folders gives an option to scroll horizontally after opening the app folder. However, it's not quite the same functionality as having multiple docks on one screen. I'm in talks with a Dev to see if this is even possible. IMO, it would open a lot of doors to customization of home screens
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
You should look @ Home-UX. I believe this is what you are looking for. A great launcher with nifty tricks, unfortuanately the dev team seems to have abandoned it. Need to revivew it, for the great feature set it supports
Go launcher has a 1 2 or 3 dock option
So here is the idea, a X-Cross Media Bar (XMB) style interface launcher that can be used on android devices, phones or tablets, but I plan on using it on my N7 since I use a Bluetooth keyboard I use for remote desktop and chrome and a pc xbox controller for games from time to time I have been trying to figure out how to make a decent android home screen that interacts like the XMB controls wise but have come up short.
I have found quite a few threads and other pages for stuff like this that has moved nowhere in the past and was hoping you guys might be able to get something in some sort of solution to my desire for a clean interactive interface. The closest thing i have, thanks to one of my friends who first came up with the idea but I have obsessively been trying to find a way to perfect, is using Nova launcher with folders set to tap to open a set app and swipe up to open the folder and a custom icon based off a PS3 theme pack I took the images from all arranged in an XMB style (picture linked) with the Wave Life Wallpaper to give it that PSP/PS3 look.
Basically all I want is an interface that interacts like the XMB, can be controlled either with directional buttons or by swiping across the screen (or tapping the icon of what you want if possible). But the big kicker here is that it has to support each column set acting as a customizable folder, like in Nova, and a standard app drawer where you can see all your apps. I don't even care if this requires xposed, a different launcher, and widgets, I want it and have done everything short of trying to code it myself. (probably not a good idea, I'm a network guy, not a good programmer)
All the pages I have come across in search of the pot of gold:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1104989
http://home.gna.org/gp2xmb/
https://code.google.com/p/xpmb/
http://boards.dingoonity.org/jxd-devices/xmb-launcher-for-android-5891/
The second to last one was a launcher somebody made, and believe it or not runs on 5.0.2, but has some issues and does not really let you change anything. The last Link is an actually functional one but does not allow for much customization.
What I am thinking of is more of a launcher that allows you to create columns for certain things and select which apps fill them like a folder does, allows you to have whatever wallpaper (static, scrolling, live) and has customization options. If somebody out there can program this and get it working I would pay for it. It just seems like such a usable interface for when using a controller, keyboard, or even on a touchscreen as a way different way to have everything organised. Although a standard app drawer would still be nice to avoid having every app in a column and just the ones you frequently use (I basically want an XMB in place of multiple desktops on the home screen)
Just let me know if anybody can help me figure this out.