Related
I just recently moved from iOS to Android, and I like it so far but it looks kind of... cheap. I'm talking about HTC Sense specifically, stock/AOSP Android is well design but albeit dull to some (although I don't agree, I prefer the minimalistic design). Some of it is okay while other parts don't make a whole lot of sense or just look plain amateur. Most of all, I think it's way over exaggerated. I hate looking at the browser bar and seeing a heavily glossed bevel with a near near flat text input and a inset button. Why would a button be even inset?
Anyway, I like some of Sense's additional features, and since Cyanogen isn't stable yet, I'd like to re-design Sense to be more subtle and just better designed. I'm a well established UI/UX designer but always have a lot of work on hand. So if someone who is knowledgeable with the graphic files that make up Sense (preferably in the new Froyo build) and is willing to identify and send the files (preferably in a zip of organized folders so I could just re-design and leave as is which could then be easily turned into a usable update file by someone), I'd get started ASAP.
The EVO is fine as is, but improving the appearance of Sense would go a long way in calming my OCD mind Attached is a quick example of how it would look like. It's the "to" contact bar in the HTC messaging app - the top is default, the bottom is my redesigned version.
My main beefs with the default graphic are:
a. It's too glossy making the outset depth of the bar appear high, problem is that a flat element (the text input box) is laid on top of it thus making it look weird and unnatural. Plus it makes it look like cheap plastic.
b. The button is inset. Why? Have you ever seen a inset button? Maybe once or twice. Looks more like a active selection than a button. the lighting is also off and just plain looks terrible.
c. The corners are rounded, but why? It looks out of place and loses fluidity with the rest of the layout. One thing I noticed is that HTC likes to throw in rounded corners in just about everything they can.
Like I said, this will be a very subtle theme but I think it will help make the stock Sense theme better. So if anyone wants to help identifying the files or knows a known resource (which I doubt since Froyo must have changed things a bit), just PM me.
I second this request. I wish I could help.
I totally agree with you in that the Sense theme needs to be more subtle.
I have always wondered why it has taken so long for someone to come up with this theme.
that would be nice
I like the idea!
Heres what I have so far.
In framework-res, I have included everything I think you will need. You'll have to let me know how much theming you intend to do. ie buttoms/selections (everything with a stock gloss?) or not.
I will continue to dig up more of what you need once I hear how deep you're looking to go. I included the taskbar icons because those will need to be changed to fit whatever the taskbar changes too so they will match. Obviously I have yet to include the signal ones along with 4g, as well as the individual app status bar notifications.
I'll wait to hear back before I progress much further.
Again, very nice looking.
Edit: Updated my post to add more.
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Award Tour said:
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
I just pulled it now so it should be the latest files.
I just pushed that sense folder to my work server, once something is in there, they get done. I'll update the folder as I get more items.
barnacles10 said:
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Award Tour said:
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, well this has totally got me pumped, so I went through and did more for you. I've included the other files out of ease, so what I have done is labeled all the folders which have new files (new from that one posted above) and added "contains new" at the end. Then within each folder i have created "new" folders for what I have added. That way you don't have to go through and figure out what you have done and whats been added.
This should keep you busy as I'm done for the night. This is a lot of the major stuff though. I will report back with anything else I find later on.
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
nebenezer said:
OP, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
nebenezer said:
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
barnacles10 said:
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, sorry to interrupt, just wanted to make sure
Award Tour said:
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they have invisible guides that tell the OS where to stretch the image to suit whatever purpose it needs.
When you open, edit and re-save them the guides disappear so you'll have to redraw them. You will find plenty of info on .9's.
The search bar you did looks much better than Google's version, I'm sure this will end up being a pretty sweet theme
This is no small undertaking or I would jump in on it and help out.
There are tons of people here who are more talented and experienced than I but if you have any questions you're welcome to pm me.
Hey guys. I am up for the night and addicted to flashing **** so let me know if you need a beta tester.
Once you finish what's there feel free to send them back to me and I can throw em back where they need to go and make a morph for the changes to test them out.
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Award Tour said:
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks good! Ill look for the notification bg image for ya when I get home tonight.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not flashable. Sorry for double posting but can't multiquote. They are simply folders. Had to zip them up to attach them is all
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Try to send me a new batch as well, I *think* I'll be done with this in a hour. If you can, send me the froyo ones.
I was browsing around and found this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=813162
and tried pushing and pulling the anim folder and all worked great, except everything!
the flip animations worked, but every app FC'ed.
so i basically only saw the flipping during the fc screens!
looks great, but doesn't work.
i have NO CLUE how to make it work.
what needs done to the files to get it to work?
and i MAY need the stock anim folder from our phone please!
by MAY i mean i do badly!
thanks!
:scooter:
Back when I was running Zen-ROM I was using Envynet's Elegant Envy theme, seen here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=768540
It had very similar animations to what I saw in the video...hopefully you can pull something from that.
i'm going to look into that.
thank you very much
Just wanted to say first time I pulled com.htc.resources.apk and pushed to that (made a backup before I modified) so after I pushed it nothing happened..
Then I pulled framework-res.apk and ploped the anim files in that.
Well now I get some really cool flip style transitions on my status bar up top, but no flip clock... Or is this what it's about? BTW, I got NO fc's on this either. If you want the framework-res.apk file, i'll post it.
Either way at least the flip style status bar will make a great addition to my roms
i could only get the ones from the dark to actually work.
all others wouldn't unzip.
so i'm giving them a go now.
i'll keep you posted.
sure, let me have what you got.
i'll toy around with them a little too.
thanks
so, the aria dark framework-res didn't work.
same thing.
force closes, but they flip!
by the way,
i'm using cm6 with adw launcher.
andro green theme.
i'm going to try LP instead of adw.
I believe envynet has did this before with his Envy Aria theme as I remember the flipping animations when i used that rom and his theme.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=768540
i tried those from Envy.
no avail.
still the same FC's as before.
rideascooter said:
sure, let me have what you got.
i'll toy around with them a little too.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my framework-res.apk file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1xdbf9w9308cwe2
All I did was pull the original from my phone, merge the anim directories with the file you provided and pushed back and voila! flips animations (between screens)
....
I just noticed you said your using cm6...
Well, I guess I better warn you.
I am using HTC Stock 2.1(base). And I am on Cellular South not Sprint, so definitely make a backup of your current framework-res.apk file before pushing this one.. dunno if it will work or not but hope so.
Thanks Hex:
Still gettting FC's.
i'm guessing it doesnt like AOSP.
i haven't had any luck with anything i've come across.
but they have ALL been from sense based roms. i think ....
i think i'm going to need some help on this.
anybody?!
Man this would be cool
it looks great,but ....
i can only see it on the FC screens!
Sounds to me like the xmls in that anim folder have settings pointing to various Sense related stuff (as I am finding out the hard way on my minimalist rom atm)
What you would need to do is decompile the xmls from cm6, and the xmls from the flipping anim folder and go through one by one merging just the flip code related to the animations and remove any sense related links... Which if I remember correctly are going to be addresses AND memory pages. This may prove to be quite tough to decipher.
Yeah I just think the .zip you found doesnt like aosp. I got it to work on my sense rom thanks to Hex. Now I like the animations.
Thanks man, always glad to help!
and how do i edit / decomplile these?
point me in the right direction, and i'm on it.
i want this to happen.
i'll probably hate it after a while, but i keep getting teased with the fc screens.
so for now, i want it!
what do i use to view xmls to edit them?
bump this up for a little help?
Shoot man, mah bad. I was meaning to help you.
#1 you need apktool:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=640592
This decompiles apks. I have never used it so... ymmv, but I have heard this is the best tool to do so.
Alternatively you can use xmlprint:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=514412
This decompiles apks to text files, however it does it 1 by 1 and does not re-compile them into native bytecode, however at the same time since it's just one folder you may prefer this to apktool for decoding (but you still need apk tool to recompile them)
For CM6, instead of decompiling all of them, it may be better to just go grab the source for CM6. You can get that here:http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Compile_CyanogenMod_for_Hero_CDMA
This wiki also gives a howto for compiling the code afterwards. The upside is you can tweak CM6 to your liking. The downside is... compiling the whole thing.
If you find a fast easy way of compiling just the files you need, you can just merge them with your current cm6 install.
DO A NANDROID FIRST SO IF YOU MESS IT UP YOU CAN GO BACK!!!!!
Hope this helps man!
EDIT 11/11/10: See Here for the official release thread.
EDIT 11/8/10: See Here for latest progress / update
Okay, wanted to give you guys a sneak peek of a port I just started working on this past weekend, for integrating the CyanogenMod Notification's panel power control widget into Sense based ROMs.
Short of the rotary lockscreen I originally ported back in the day, this has been one of the most intensive ports I've had to tackle, but it's getting close.
I've got the port to a point where it is mostly functionality (some buttons are not working yet, etc), but as you will see in the quick video demo, the formatting, etc, is all FUBAR'ed.
The formatting issues "should" be relatively easy to fix, my main focus to this point was to get things functional, then worry about pretty-ing it up, etc.
You can see in the video I currently have the widget set to the options for 'Lockscreen|Flashlight|GPS|Silent Mode', and you will see when I toggle the right 2, that the status bar updates accordingly to reflect the change in mode/status, based on the toggle. You can't really see, obviously, the flashlight come on, but it is working as well, in addition to the lockscreen on/off toggle.
Anyway, just a sneak peek. It may be that I never get it fully functional, and this ends up being nothing but a tease, but, I'm pretty persistent... .
Awesome. I just started working on this last week for Zen's ROM. It is a very daunting task. I got everything to show up, but wasn't able to get it functioning. Smali editing sucks. I've also been working on editing the recent apps icons in the notification menu from Zen's ROM (And Desire HD I think) and customizing them to be shortcuts that I use. The recent apps is useless and I'd love to have my shortcuts there instead.
I'll be watching this to see how you make out. I've slowed down on this since I'm waiting to get a new phone.
EDIT: GOOD LUCK!
signals23 said:
I got everything to show up, but wasn't able to get it functioning. Smali editing sucks.
I'll be watching this to see how you make out. I've slowed down on this since I'm waiting to get a new phone.
EDIT: GOOD LUCK!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yes, .smali editing sucks, especially this type, where you can't simply replace smali files and update resource ids, etc, as the two services.jar files are vastly different as it relates to the status bar, so it has been a complex merger of the two.
I'm close, but need a break! I'll probably re-visit this more over the coming weekend, when I have time to dig in. I have more hours invested in this from last weekend than I care to admit, and the wife wasn't very happy with me as a result...
wow js!!!! i really like this feature!!! hope you get it fully functional!!!
JsChiSurf said:
Thanks. Yes, .smali editing sucks, especially this type, where you can't simply replace smali files and update resource ids, etc, as the two services.jar files are vastly different as it relates to the status bar, so it has been a complex merger of the two.
I'm close, but need a break! I'll probably re-visit this more over the coming weekend, when I have time to dig in. I have more hours invested in this from last weekend than I care to admit, and the wife wasn't very happy with me as a result...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been there one too many times!
VERY cool. I would for sure use this. I'm almost surprised no one has thought of this...it's such a genius idea...for something so obvious haha
Greenfieldan said:
VERY cool. I would for sure use this. I'm almost surprised no one has thought of this...it's such a genius idea...for something so obvious haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd have to imagine others have thought of it, now pulling it off of is a different story . It is not a simple task.
I didn't know this existed in CM until I was working on porting a mod I made for hex editing the lockscreen/notification window banner text (carrier) on Sense based ROMs over to CM, which forced me to load CM for testing, then, EUREKA!
Almost wish I hadn't come across it
JsChiSurf said:
I'd have to imagine others have thought of it, now pulling it off of is a different story . It is not a simple task.
I didn't know this existed in CM until I was working on porting a mod I made for hex editing the lockscreen/notification window banner text (carrier) on Sense based ROMs over to CM, which forced me to load CM for testing, then, EUREKA!
Almost wish I hadn't come across it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LMAO!!!!!
10chars
I'm so glad you got an EVO JsChiSurf. This looks very promising! I was just pouring over the code changes in your rotary lockscreen port the other day to see if I could get it working on my EVO. Long story short, I crapped a brick and put that thought to rest.
nukedukem said:
I'm so glad you got an EVO JsChiSurf. This looks very promising! I was just pouring over the code changes in your rotary lockscreen port the other day to see if I could get it working on my EVO. Long story short, I crapped a brick and put that thought to rest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yes, the problem with the Rotary lock is, on 2.1, HTC left most of the remnants in place, in 2.2, not so much, so it is going to take more work to pull off.
I think it is possible, but I haven't had the time or motivation to dig in. If someone else doesn't get to it first, it's on my list, but it's more fun to work on new stuff, rather than something I've already done before, so I'm less motivated to do it again .
This will be sweet. I loved it on my Samsung
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
bblanski said:
This will be sweet. I loved it on my Samsung
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Made some more head way this evening, but still much more to tackle...
This reminds me, I went digging into Sense to get the Mail widget to work in LauncherPro. Boy, what a PIA. I got it to show up and insert, but it wouldn't work. I figure there has to be a way to make it independent. I bet I'd have a lot of time to work on it if I got divorced...
i'm soo glad you got an evo bro. This will be sweet.
This looks amazing. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
Awesome man! Thanks for doing this, it is such a nice feature on the Galaxy S and CM 6.1. I hope it works out
Progress Report
Okay guys, getting real close on this port of the CM Power Control Widget for Sense ROMs. The video below will show you how far along I've come with this port. I've pretty much got most of the cosmetics corrected, but still have a few of the widgets to get functional, most notably bluetooh and wifi (don't think it will be an issue, just need to time to dig in).
This port/mod, upon release, requires changes to services.jar, and framework-res.apk, and as such, if you are using custom themes, edits, etc, you'll probably want to wait and see / request for your ROM dev or themer to take this as a base / starting point to integrate into their ROM or theme, as there is simply no way to do it the other way around. There are just too many edits involved to try and do this any other way in order to retain your previous mods / edits.
You'll see in the video that I actually moved the widget bar below the sprint banner / clear button area, rather than the default above. I think it looks better, curious what you guys think.
Also, while CM allows you to turn on/off widget options via the menu/settings area, I don't plan on going that far, and may either just fix it to 6 most popular, or provide a file on your phone that you can manually modify to specify the widgets (up to 6), you want to use.
Looking for opinions, based on the list below, if I were to fix it to 6, hard coded, what 6 in the list of available widgets would be preferred. Available widgets are:
Airplane mode
Auto rotate
Bluetooth
Brightness
Flashlight *
GPS *
Lockscreen *
Mobile Data
Network mode
Sleep
Screen Timeout
Sound (mute) *
Sync
Wifi
*Included in the video demo below.
Some of these I haven't test and am not exactly sure what they do, lol.
Also, curious what you guys think about the addition of toast notifications when a button is pressed (on screen text confirmation / message) and/or haptic feedback when pressed.
That's it for now. Again, getting close to a release soon.
WOW!
This is huge buddy
Awesome job.
My vote goes for:
Bluetooth
Flashlight
GPS
Wifi
Airplane
Brightness
Awesome work btw
I vote
Wifi
Mobile Network
Sound
Bluetooth
Auto Rotate
Lockscreen
I have recently started looking into theming and I was wondering if there was a repo somewhere with icons etc. that generally match. atm the moment I'm kinda of pulling from these theme and the other, there a better way to do this? Eventually I'll probably start making some of my own by in the meantime while I'm still dabbling I was hoping I could find these. Right now I've got about 5k images from the various frameworks of themes that I enjoy...Tell me there's an easier way.
jvegastn said:
I have recently started looking into theming and I was wondering if there was a repo somewhere with icons etc. that generally match. atm the moment I'm kinda of pulling from these theme and the other, there a better way to do this? Eventually I'll probably start making some of my own by in the meantime while I'm still dabbling I was hoping I could find these. Right now I've got about 5k images from the various frameworks of themes that I enjoy...Tell me there's an easier way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a few people who have posted guides such as the following:
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AcdxIJRSH9ypZGZzc2pxNDlfMjdnazk4OHNxZA&hl=en&pli=1
This is a pretty comprehensive guide from people like Manup and Stericson.
Or check here:
http://www.mydroidworld.com/forums/...ns-manuals/3209-how-theme-your-own-droid.html
I think most of it is the same, but may fill in some extra gaps, and is a forum, so you may find some additional questions answered.
I just started theming as well. I originally was just replacing images as well. But the guys doing the big work actuall create their own images (sometimes image creation, as well as coloring). In addition they usually theme the apps (not just the images) but also go in and edit the xml files to create color coded themes throughout the framework and apps. It's quite a bit of work...
Anyways...check out the links and good luck!
http://droidpirate.com/2010/08/25/metamorph-round-battery-icon-in-various-colors/
http://icons.mysitemyway.com/matte-blue-and-white-square-icons-media/
http://androidforums.com/droid-x-all-things-root/246462-theme-help-tutorial.html#post2063232
Hi all!
Working on my rom (JB XXELLC), and got and idea I just want to have some guidence with. Kinda a new to android (about 1 month), but picked up quite a lot allready, and done some simple smali / xml modding.
So, the idea is, to simply add an option in SecSettings with clockcolor, like the inkeffect setting (easy part).
The line in SystemUI xml files is also under control (like the color is basic xml code, like #blablabla)
Now, the thing I need a little guidence with is. When I have my colorvalue in secsettings, how do I get that value into the clock-color-value in the xml file?
The way I think is that choosen color is stoered in some adress (not known yet), say 0x111111 for now. And in the XML file (or some smali?), insted of a #fffffff color the color will be picked up from 0x1111111 ..
Am I thinking right? I'm not requesting a complete mod, or anything like that, just wanted to hear with you more skilled guys if I'm thinking right. Chose the correct method will cut down my dev time, a lot.. Of course It will be tricky, but that's a bit of the charm.
And sorry for bad english.. working on it :silly:
I realized that you said in your post that you wanted to cut DOWN your dev time, but I'm not going to contribute to that motive at all. Instead, I'm going to give you advice on how to massively increase your "dev time" at the same time as you massively increase your knowledge on how things work. After all, this section isn't about "quick" fixes.
(Knowing the answer is nice. Knowing how to find the answer is much, much better.)
Why not grab cyanogenmod or aokp source, and find examples of what you are trying to do (pull a color from something set in settings) in the actual java source, then compile that firmware, and finally push it back through apktool (or whatever your using to disassemble the apk) and find the corresponding smali?