Hey everyone!
I'm a huge fan of the Zune Home launcher, I love its look and interface. The one thing I really miss though is access to a few widgets. I don't use too many, but I'd really like to be able to use Power Control along with a couple others.
If you aren't familiar with Zune Home, its just one screen with a scrollable list of sections (email, internet, photos, apps) and a side column of your favorite apps. There's no room for widgets here (nor would I want them right there on the main screen) and its only the one screen, no left or right aux screens.
A workaround I thought of is somehow putting a shortcut or app in the quick launch that leads to a page of widgets. I tried searching around for "widget page app" and many versions of that idea, but as you might guess, it's really hard to search for.
Any ideas?
tl;dr Is there any app that simply brings up a blank page that you can fill with widgets?
Thanks!
try searching the market for powerstrip or quickdesk or smart-taskbar
QuickDesk is absolutely perfect! Thank you!
I have an idea for an app, but no means to make it myself.
I would like an app that you can apply to widgets on your home screen. It would make them disappear. Then when you want to use the widget, tap the space where it was on the screen, and it reappears. This way you could have a very clean home screen with a nice wallpaper and no icons, until you need to use them.
Anyone up for the challenge?
I agree. This could be really cool if someone can develop this.
Anyone... I think this would be really awesome. The ability to have a minimalist home screen, but in one touch have widgets, or shortcuts appear would be awesome.
i was looking at the continuum on verizon and i thought "what's with the awkward location of the soft keys between the two screens" and "why have 2 in the first place." but the idea of a ticker was nice. i also didnt think it was versatile enough. and thought if that was a spot for another 1x4 standard android widget and could scroll through several widgets that you choose it would be better but then why not do it on one screen and put it on the market.
so i had the idea of either a 1x4 widget that actually holds other widgets and/or links and scrolls through them every 5 seconds or so, you could have all your favorite widgets on one screen inside a dock.
or why not a home launcher with a with a dockbar can not only hold a 1/1 icon links/shortcuts but could also hold widgets up to 1x4. add in the ticker widget and then you would always have it on screen, not just on one home screen.
i realize a ticker wouldn't be for everyone, it could get quite annoying but i think i would like to see the option available. a dock bar that holds a widget might get some downloads i think
does anyone else have any thoughts? good idea/bad idea? anyone who can make this sort of thing happen interested? my brother could do it but he wont speak to me anymore.
i know some of the launchers out there can do a lot and this sort of thing may already be possible but take some know how. i mean i saw an lcars theme for a launcher that went against everything i know about the android gui. but i have no idea how to do that sort of thing.
This is probably a lame thread, but maybe others have similar issues and we can whine about them, because we're lucky and can afford to waste time worrying about our homescreen setup on our smartphones, and not where our next meal is coming from. (wow, where did that come from?)
It's not in any way a development/tech problem, it's just aesthetics: I get so frustrated trying to find a cool wallpaper that still alows me to see the apps/widgets on my homescreens cleanly! I always wind up reverting to a semi-boring wallpaper like a black grid because with busier wallpapers of things I'm actually interested in, they clash so much with my homescreen items that I can't read half my widgets! So just curious as to how you all have your homescreen set up? Do you have a busy wallpaper with minimal apps/widgets? Or do you use a bland "backdrop" wallpaper so that you can see/use the apps/widgets cleanly? This has always been a peeve of mine, because both elements (wp and widgets) seem essential to customizing your phone, and yet it's so hard to get them to play nicely together for a clean, visually pleasing display.
I'm currently using Regina Launcher and have five independent wallpapers.
I just use a "blah" one for busy work spaces and use good one for lesser crowed screens.
That's actually not a bad topic. There are tons of images I'd like to use as a wallpaper but I run into the same problem you do. I always end up settling for something not as bright, so i can see my widgets/apps clearly. Recently though, i just started editing my images to a darker tint so the white lettering stands out. This brings up the concept of integrating text color editing into the existing top launchers.
hmmm...
The one stickied thread in the themes section has a whole host of options with both minimalist and "busy" wallpapers. Some just don't work well, but there are compromises. Its more about finding the right Widgets/launcher to compliment your style.
Yeah, I know, it seems like a silly thing to complain about, you just gotta make it work however fits your tastes/needs. And you're right, the launcher is a big part of it, I've been using stock sense since getting the phone, but finally decided to try a replacement for various reasons, and I'm loving launcher pro plus, it's got many of the sense-type widgets, plus they work better lol, not to mention the dock and other things. Between that and a little finagling, I think I've found something that works.
If you use ADW then you can change the background box to whatever color and transparency you want to. I do this for some of my wallpapers so that the icons stick out.
Thanks for the tip! But honestly, I think I'm sticking with Launcher Pro Plus, I spent the $ already, and it's the only replacement I've tried that can truly top Sense, IMO.
I tend to use brighter more vibrantly colored wallpapers and i run into this issues once in a while. But i usually just place icons and widgets around the spots that make things hard to read or add a shaded box behind the widget.
And considering the amount of time we spend on our phones, it's pretty easy to remember what icon are for what apps. I stopped displaying names a long time ago. Now I even use icon sets not made for android and just use random icons for apps that in some way relate to them.
II'm not exactly sure what to look for here, I Googled a bunch of things and found nothing. Basically it's like this, I'm running Buzz Launcher, but for the sake of my question I don't think it's really tied into the launcher. I have 6 home screen set up, and I would like for the widgets & icons to fade in & out instead of scrolling as I swipe between screens. Apparently nobody really cares about this as I didn't find any threads when I Googled it. But if it's possible, I'd love to know how to pull it off.