Hi all, I'm newly registered here and I've found only 1 thread concerning this.
My question is this: How hard would it be to build a Launcher that doesn't use graphics, only text. I ask this because I've never programmed for android, but I have some experience in actionscript and basic. It's not very much tho, and I've tried many different programming languages over the years, mostly basic stuff in school (php, java, c++, javascript).
I always liked the look of CWM recovery on my Galaxy 3. It's really crisp and I wondered if I could make a launcher myself that would emulate that look and feel.
I also liked how more of the screen could be used since you could use vol+/- keys for navigation, and not just your touchscreen. That means smaller fonts and more options on screen at one time.
Is it possible for me, as a total beginner, to build a really simple launcher that I could later expand with widgets etc?
I guess this won't get any replies because it sinks down so fast...
Where should I post this, I seem to be getting no answers...
Sent from my GT-I5800 using XDA App
Hi everyone.
I come from a Motorola Backflip, that although was a POS device, and didn't get root until ~6 months after release, I used to run CM6/CM7 on it and enjoyed using custom themes. In particular, I really enjoyed those slick, minimalistic themes. I know that there is a popular theme being developed (BlueICS or something) and I don't really dig the extravagant graphics and shading and everything, and much prefer a simple, minimalistic approach to theming. I know that once we get CyanogenMod fully ported to this device, a big number of options will open up for us, but as of right now, is anyone working on any other themes for the existing ROMs we have for this device? Such as a minimalistic theme? Sorry that I don't have any examples of what I'm looking for but I'm sure if you search for some you'll find some good ones around XDA. I'm sure some other people also prefer a similar look to their device and I was just wondering if anyone more capable than myself had considered working on such a theme.
Nova
I know its not the same, but have you tried using Nova?
I am on cleanROM 2.5 SE and I found the Sense a bit to "busy", I flashed the blueICS theme, and I liked the blue icons in notification as well as some of the other changes that were made it it, but I found using the free version of Nova was more then enough to simplify the general feel of the app drawer and desktop. This takes a little work and would be easier to just flash a theme, but its working great for me, and no theme would make it feel perfect for me?
If that makes sense?
or I could be completely off topic...
Hi, yeah, I'm currently running CleanROM DE and using Apex Launcher and I agree that the launcher does make a difference in the overall look/feel of the device but I'm talking about a full, complete themeing of the device (including stock HTC Sense apps. Here, I included some links of some kinds of themes that I'm talking about (yes, I know that some are for Eclair/Froyo/Gingerbread). I also took some screenshots of them in case you don't feel like opening the links.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=974429
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=938394
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/6200-themehdpimdpiminimalarrows-for-cm7100811update/
Agree
+ 1
Got it, currently I have a stack of paps that allow me to get a similar appearance to the dark theme above. It would be nice if a gracious themer would create such a wonderful
I'm combining two questions/issues here so I don't fill up this forum.
1. I heard a rumor (or read it somewhere going through this forum?) that the custom ROMs for the 3113 rarely implement the IR drivers as a means of being more compatible with other versions of this tablet. Is this true? Are there ROMs that support IR? As a TS owner, this is fairly important.
2. Nova launcher - perhaps this is more of a complaint session than a question: On every device I've owned, I've seen hacks and mods to attempt to get "tablet mode" working on a 7" device. Overall, I believe the attempt is to get launchers to look more tablet like. Yes, the soft buttons move to the left, and the menu locations change, but overall, I'm assuming the holy grail everyone is searching for is the tablet look on the launchers.
I saw a support section on the Nova website where the developer stated that creating phablet and tablet modes was hokey and pointless (paraphrasing). My question would be, has anyone attempted to mod Nova to support a tablet mode on a 7" device? Really all we're asking for here is to move the side located launch bar to the bottom, allow the side margins to change pages, and put the search bar on the top.
Is this really that big of a deal??? What is it with this belief that a 7" tablet owner should be happy with a phone interface, and why are the devs of the launchers too stubborn to give us the option to decide how we want our layout? Is there something I'm missing here?
I've been through every launcher ever made (practically), and to date, I've only seen one offshoot of ADW do what we're asking, but unfortunately, performance was down, it was a little buggy, and I believe the dev may not have been babying the development.
majorpay said:
I'm combining two questions/issues here so I don't fill up this forum.
1. I heard a rumor (or read it somewhere going through this forum?) that the custom ROMs for the 3113 rarely implement the IR drivers as a means of being more compatible with other versions of this tablet. Is this true? Are there ROMs that support IR? As a TS owner, this is fairly important.
2. Nova launcher - perhaps this is more of a complaint session than a question: On every device I've owned, I've seen hacks and mods to attempt to get "tablet mode" working on a 7" device. Overall, I believe the attempt is to get launchers to look more tablet like. Yes, the soft buttons move to the left, and the menu locations change, but overall, I'm assuming the holy grail everyone is searching for is the tablet look on the launchers.
I saw a support section on the Nova website where the developer stated that creating phablet and tablet modes was hokey and pointless (paraphrasing). My question would be, has anyone attempted to mod Nova to support a tablet mode on a 7" device? Really all we're asking for here is to move the side located launch bar to the bottom, allow the side margins to change pages, and put the search bar on the top.
Is this really that big of a deal??? What is it with this belief that a 7" tablet owner should be happy with a phone interface, and why are the devs of the launchers too stubborn to give us the option to decide how we want our layout? Is there something I'm missing here?
I've been through every launcher ever made (practically), and to date, I've only seen one offshoot of ADW do what we're asking, but unfortunately, performance was down, it was a little buggy, and I believe the dev may not have been babying the development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. To the best of my knowledge, the IR issue is based on the fact that it is proprietary software that belongs to Samsung - and they have not released the code, or given permission, etc for it to be used. The only "custom" roms that will have the IR option will be those using a stock Samsung rom as its base.
2. I cannot respond to the Nova Launcher question
Regards,
bill_in_mtl said:
1. To the best of my knowledge, the IR issue is based on the fact that it is proprietary software that belongs to Samsung - and they have not released the code, or given permission, etc for it to be used. The only "custom" roms that will have the IR option will be those using a stock Samsung rom as its base.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah... That clears up a lot. Unfortunate as I thought Samsung was one of the leaders in open sourcing their code.
majorpay said:
I'm combining two questions/issues here so I don't fill up this forum.
1. I heard a rumor (or read it somewhere going through this forum?) that the custom ROMs for the 3113 rarely implement the IR drivers as a means of being more compatible with other versions of this tablet. Is this true? Are there ROMs that support IR? As a TS owner, this is fairly important.
2. Nova launcher - perhaps this is more of a complaint session than a question: On every device I've owned, I've seen hacks and mods to attempt to get "tablet mode" working on a 7" device. Overall, I believe the attempt is to get launchers to look more tablet like. Yes, the soft buttons move to the left, and the menu locations change, but overall, I'm assuming the holy grail everyone is searching for is the tablet look on the launchers.
I saw a support section on the Nova website where the developer stated that creating phablet and tablet modes was hokey and pointless (paraphrasing). My question would be, has anyone attempted to mod Nova to support a tablet mode on a 7" device? Really all we're asking for here is to move the side located launch bar to the bottom, allow the side margins to change pages, and put the search bar on the top.
Is this really that big of a deal??? What is it with this belief that a 7" tablet owner should be happy with a phone interface, and why are the devs of the launchers too stubborn to give us the option to decide how we want our layout? Is there something I'm missing here?
I've been through every launcher ever made (practically), and to date, I've only seen one offshoot of ADW do what we're asking, but unfortunately, performance was down, it was a little buggy, and I believe the dev may not have been babying the development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To point 2, the phablet ui was pushed by Google in jellybean. It has nothing to do with the homescreen devs. If you use a tablet ui hack, Nova works fine.
SonicJoe said:
To point 2, the phablet ui was pushed by Google in jellybean. It has nothing to do with the homescreen devs. If you use a tablet ui hack, Nova works fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, really all a homescreen dev would have to do is allow us to move the the dock and search in portrait, right? I understand that tablet ui moves a few of the menus, etc, but I myself don't care that much about that (maybe I'm alone on this?. The big potatoes for me is the main home ui as I really don't like the dock on the side...
The control moving would be nice, but much lower on my list.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk HD
Doesn't ADW EX allow for the tablet-like homescreen option? I know you can put the dock on the bottom as opposed to the side, and the redesigned action bar can be put at the top. Only thing it doesn't do is put system UI in tablet mode.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
Hello. I just wanted to discuss a little bit about the animations in the android operating system, or rather lack there of. I'm not a developer or coder, so maybe someone in the community can enlighten me a little bit on this topic and maybe perhaps let the rest of us know the direction and future of things to come. maybe there are projects that are currently being worked on that most of us don't know about or haven't heard of yet.
What i was wondering was how come there is so little animation going on in the Android UI itself. I've seen Launchers or shells such as Next Launcher or TSF Laucher which have beautiful animations and transistions, but how come some of these elements haven't been carried over to the android OS itself? One of the major things i've been wanting to see (something that i don't even think 3rd party launchers can do yet) is animated icons. Why is it that on older generation phones (if you recall old nokia monochrome phones and old motorola razor type phones) the little icons used to animate when you used to scroll over them, but on these newer generation phones with quadcore and even octocore processors we still do not have animated icons??? Or how about animated widgets. I have done many extensive searches to find animated widgets, and at best you get like 2 results. Why aren't there more animated widgets such as cool clock widgets that animate?
Thanks for reading my post. I just wanted to open a discussion on this and see if anyone else has any views or input on this.
Greetings! Just joined! Let me start first by saying, thank you for xda and thank you all who contribute and make it the best place to find new cool things for our android phones! This site is one of the most important ones for android stuff. Amazing.
First, the background story:
Im a Sony lover ever since i bought my first Sony Ericsson t610 as a kid (still one of the best phones ever created ) and kept with the brand ever since.
Currently i own Sony Xperia e4g (E2003) on KitKat 4.4.4. Thats all the tech stuff i know about it. xD
I unlocked bootloader, have TWRP as recovery and is rooted managing with SuperSU.
I extremely love the UI of it but no infinite scroll is really bugging me. I found a temporary solution by finding this amazingness:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2103403
The original question simplified:
Can i somehow edit my phones launcher and somehow combine with the one i just linked to?
Of course i want to make it so i can install it on a different phone as well, if and when i buy a different Xperia phone.
The issue i have are that i really dont like some UI elements, I just want the functionality. Im a minimalistic/simplistic kind of guy so Xperia has the perfect UI for me. And no, no launcher gave me any substitute so far, i tried most of them.
I want to try and build my own launcher combining the best of both and maybe as i learn and progress, add even more cool stuff.
But for now, im kinda looking to port my phones launcher and add functionality from another.
Can someone help me achieve this or point me in the right direction?
Detailed changes im looking for:
First, i want to port the launcher so it works on other phones.
Add infinite scroll.
Keep all the design elements (i guess png files, maybe im calling it wrong) and only fill in elements from the linked launcher to functions that my launcher doesnt have by default. Ill design the rest of the elements to fit my phones launcher theme.
I want to remove the Z launchers app drawer top items and switch it for the stock one. Much less intrusive.
So, in essence, keep the look from E and add the functionality like, self close or open last functions from Z.
You can check the difference here for the app drawers:
https://imgur.com/a/7XsWZ
The E has a much cleaner look. I want it by default, i would add settings to choose the style from either E or Z.
Id keep the E look and just add the functionality buttons that Z gives. Id redesign most of those icons to fit the theme tho.
Desktop settings, Home and NavBar buttons.
https://imgur.com/a/64aqF
Id also like to edit the navbar buttons themselves and change them to now new triangle,circle and cube. But id also like to switch recent apps and back buttons but i dont think thats possible from within a launcher. So ill figure that out later.
And for last, i would switch the bar on the bar icons with the one from Xperia T launcher but i cant find a download for it and dont own a T version phone.
Please help and thank you for your time reading this wall. xD