Just as the title says.
Go to http://www.zoubda.fr/livetilesgenerator/ on your phones internet browser (IE, Surfcube etc)
It will generate a webpage with whatever title's you want so that you can organize your homescreen.
Once the page is generated click the bottom 3 dot menu and select "pin to start"
Done and done that easy!.
Enjoy guys!
By the way, NOT my work I just stumbled across this reading through some WP7 news threads
Just thought I'd add a few photos to show everyone how easy it really is. Literally just follow along with the steps shown and you shouldnt have any issues. It's about as easy as... well... it can be!
But how did the color of other tiles changed?? For me it just shwos one tile with 'test' as black.. all other tiles have the old color..
What other tiles, my actual App tiles?... The Grey? That was done using a colour changer that you can use when you have a jail broken phone. This is not going to change the colour of all your tiles. This just adds custom tiles that you can use to organize your home screen
http://blog.iqagency.com/?p=3751
Read about it here... awesome idea and it has organised my start screen beautifuly.
woow this is really great I hope Microsoft make something like this
eizsoft said:
woow this is really great I hope Microsoft make something like this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft has already given you the ability to do this, and it works great. Check the links.
Avandor said:
Microsoft has already given you the ability to do this, and it works great. Check the links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true, and it does work, but it isn't a perfect solution. If the OS provided the ability to add special "title" and "separator" tiles (that don't respond to taps) that followed the user's selected color theme, then it would be perfect, especially if those special tiles could be half height.
Still, after adding my own categories last night, my Start screen is light years better than before. I think I may follow the example of the link you created though, and redo mine in Photoshop and upload them to my own web space. Then I could make better use of side-by-side tiles.
This is pretty simple and somewhat eligant but frustrating in the fact that if you click on it you go to a web page.
RoboDad said:
That's true, and it does work, but it isn't a perfect solution. If the OS provided the ability to add special "title" and "separator" tiles (that don't respond to taps) that followed the user's selected color theme, then it would be perfect, especially if those special tiles could be half height.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree... I have yet to click on any of the tiles I pinned (have 3 currently), but would be perfect if no link was added, just a simple separator style of tiles (with different lengths).
Hello all
I updated the page (http://www.zoubda.fr/livetilesgenerator/) It’s now possible :
-to add a picture as a background instead of a color
-share the link so you can create them on your desktop and simply copy/past the url or you can share it with your friends.
And I also removed the white space at the left of the text.
So, you can now have things like that :
Enjoy
Nice work! Thanks.
Hello,
Suggest that you make colored squares with the upper half of the square in black and the bottom colored. In this way, the black upper half will give the illusion of black/blank space to separate the top tiles from the bottom category tiles.
tagazok said:
Hello all
I updated the page (http://www.zoubda.fr/livetilesgenerator/) It’s now possible :
-to add a picture as a background instead of a color
-share the link so you can create them on your desktop and simply copy/past the url or you can share it with your friends.
And I also removed the white space at the left of the text.
So, you can now have things like that :
Enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very cool stuff, thanks a lot for sharing!
Nice work!
If there was a way to organize the app page by category I'd be very happy!
Thank you very much
This is working great for me...
I hate to be picky, but i have a question:
is it possible to make these tiles half the height but keep the width the same (rectangle not square)?
this way you can see the new app "category" but not space the tiles so much apart.... or do the tiles have to stay at the set dimensions (square) from MS?
also, is there a way to disable the generated tiles from opening on clicking them by mistake??
Thanks again
All tiles are square, 173x173 pixels. There is no way to make a half height tile today. And, unfortunately, there is also no way to make a tile that won't respond to a "click".
The technique that we are using here isn't one that was designed to allow people to display category titles. It was designed to allow people to pin links to web pages onto the start screen.
You can always link those tiles to any web you want.
1. Load the image you want as a tile in the browser
2. Type a new URL on the address bar.
3. Quickly press stop (X) before the phone starts loading the new site. The new URL will be on the address bar but on the screen you will still have your tile image.
4. Pin to start. Now you have a web link tile with a custom image background.
Aaron McCarthy said:
Just as the title says.
Go to http://www.zoubda.fr/livetilesgenerator/
It will generate a webpage with whatever title's you want so that you can organize your homescreen.
Once the page is generated click the bottom 3 dot menu and select "pin to start"
Done and done that easy!.
Enjoy guys!
By the way, NOT my work I just stumbled across this reading through some WP7 news threads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes cool, But go to the link on you mobile phone Internet Explorere.
Not your desktop/laptop.
FlowerPotmen said:
Yes cool, But go to the link on you mobile phone Internet Explorere.
Not your desktop/laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's wrong with it? Works like a charm. If it doesn't work for you, I assume your IE is set to mobile view instead of desktop view. Switch and check again.
Related
I'm interested in changing the launcher, so I've pushed a new theme that gets rid of the application drawer.
As it is right now, it does not have support for:
-Wallpapers
-Icons
-Shortcuts
-Widgets
-Multiple Screens (at the moment there really isn't much need for one)
What it does have support for:
-Single 1x1 icon for all of your apps to be displayed
-1x3 along bottom row in portrait for your most recently used apps
-1x along bottom row in landscape for your most recently used apps
The above unsupported features are going to be my goal as I work with this example I think, might have it up on github if there is interest to reinvent a minimized launcher with *favorite apps* row.
I really like the fact that this does not waste 1x4 for the app tray pull up/push down tab.
Link: http://miano.us/android/theme-min-4.0.3.zip
can we see a screenshot?
Yeah, I would like to see a screenshot as well if possible.
I'm currently working on a theme and want to release as up-to-date as possible, so if this makes things smoother I would like to implement.
wow, that sounds just like.... heh...
Maybe you'll do something with it. I'm too lazy atm to learn java and actually do the modifications i planned.
jubeh said:
wow, that sounds just like.... heh...
Maybe you'll do something with it. I'm too lazy atm to learn java and actually do the modifications i planned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 100% recycling the example code for home.apk I believe it's called.
I like the idea behind it - and it is really clean and makes use of 3x1 more blocks on the screen.
It's just going to be challenging incorporating everything from the launcher into this.
I'll post screen shots later, but it's not very glittery.
mianosm said:
I'm 100% recycling the example code for home.apk I believe it's called.
I like the idea behind it - and it is really clean and makes use of 3x1 more blocks on the screen.
It's just going to be challenging incorporating everything from the launcher into this.
I'll post screen shots later, but it's not very glittery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what it is, I put it up on another thread about a week or two ago, somebody was asking about home alternatives.
The thing's got a nasty bug where it doesn't keep the wallpaper on rotation. I agree it's really clean. Here's the ideas I planned on implementing, had I the necessary java knowledge:
-Enable widget support
-Enable multiple home screens along with swiping
-Enable two wallpaper display choices; Classic (a single wallpaper for the whole thing) or Themed (a wallpaper per screen, maybe introduce a different animation for changing screen (transitions) since just sliding would look kind of ugly with the wallpapers sliding side to side)
- Make the current space that does nothing (the space where the app tray expands to) a 4x5 grid exclusively for widgets because...
-Make the three "Recent Apps" strip a sliding (left to right) "Favorites" dock where you'd toss in your app icons (insted of the home screens, I'd like to keep those for widgets)
-Incorporate some widgets (full screen a la "Hero") that are not available in the regular Launcher but are still compatible with the regular laucher's widget api. They would be packed with the launcher, much like search is part of launcher or power control is part of settings.
I'm studying java, but I don't know that I'll be able to work on it anytime soon. Maybe you can do it (if you like the ideas) or enlist other devs to come up with the code pieces to make it all work (I'm studying the way the current laucher works and seeing how I can import widget support to the Home.apk)
Is there an HTC widget available for brightness? I am usually on auto, but at times I need to change it. It is a lot of swipes to do so in the interface.
I know there are some in market, but all the ones I see dont work with the auto setting.
the Power widget will let you adjust brightness from auto>full>minimum.
Weather & Toggle Widgets has an awesome brightness widget.
SwitchPro has a nice configurable widget bar, I like it better than Powerstrip.
It does, cost .99 where Powerstrip is free, but you can always refund if you end up not liking it.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/alei.switchpro
edit: Powerstrip doesn't work with auto brightness anyway, SwitchPro does.
i use brigtness level widget. it's got a slider and predefined quick settings.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will try them out.
GumboChief said:
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will try them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not quite finished it but I've been editing a widget I got in the Market to match the style of the HTC ones. I'm a complete noob at the process so I've been going in circles but am nearly done. I'll be happy to send it to you when I'm done.
okolowicz said:
I'm not quite finished it but I've been editing a widget I got in the Market to match the style of the HTC ones. I'm a complete noob at the process so I've been going in circles but am nearly done. I'll be happy to send it to you when I'm done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love it if it could look like this:
GumboChief said:
I'd love it if it could look like this:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the basic design:
The images were the easy part. Getting them to show up on the home screen correctly has been a pain in the *ss. I've been tweaking the XML of a widget I got in the market but haven't yet perfected it. Schedule is prettyl light today so I am hoping to finish it tonight.
okolowicz said:
Here is the basic design:
The images were the easy part. Getting them to show up on the home screen correctly has been a pain in the *ss. I've been tweaking the XML of a widget I got in the market but haven't yet perfected it. Schedule is prettyl light today so I am hoping to finish it tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect look. What would the functionality be? Would the switch control auto-brightness?
How would one access the sliding scale?
I'm playing around with a widget that has five settings. Tapping the widget cycles through the different settings.
Ideally I'd like to have one with the same functionality of the Dazzle widget which has 4 settings including Auto as well as a sliding scale. If you know of a free brightness widget other than Dazzle with that functionality I'll give it a try. The Dazzle one looks to be a bit more difficult to edit.
Just to update you. I am making progress but not finished. I'm editing a widget with a sliding scale and that displays the current setting.
I've got the Widget to display at the right size but I am having trouble figuring out how to get a background to the label. It shouldn't be too hard to reposition the value setting so that it is centered in the widget at which point I'll redesign it to be cleaner. But, need to figure out the shadow first...
[/IMG]
Looks great. Can't wait to see the final product!
The value level number is killer
P.S. I kinda like the number right where it is
GumboChief said:
P.S. I kinda like the number right where it is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you put it that way
I got the spacing figured out for the text label (it was skewing to the left before). And, I changed the brightness icon from blue to gray because I thought there was too much blue if the value indicator is going to stay.
That said, there are still two issues I've yet to figure out:
1. I've yet to add the background behind the text label. This is not a big deal with dark wallpaper, as you can see in the pic. But, with lighter wallpaper it looks like sh*t (see earlier screenshot).
2. Because this is merely an edited Market App there is a good chance the Marketplace will still prompt for an update if there is one. I need to figure out how to remove whatever signature is there to prevent that.
Needless to say, I'm still working on it... But, since it is currently usable with a dark wallpaper, I've added a link so you can download and use it while I figure the rest out.
link removed (updated versions in later posts)
Will install now, and let you know what I think in the morning.
Thanks so much for the effort!
Also, with appbrain, it is easy to tell it "ignore market updates"
When an update is found, click on the X and it is an option.
Very quick feedback-
If auto is set in the HTC settings, it overrides the slider in about half a second.
If I turn off auto in HTC settings, then slider works as expected.
Is there a way to make this compatible with "auto"?
I use auto most of the time, except in the dark, when auto is still too bright.
Genius. Thanks for sharing. Works great!
PS A little blue in the center wouldn't be bad. Would go along with the other HTC Settings widgets better.
Either way though, this is a great little tool.
yeah I think this is awesome, cant wait to see how it goes with the little fixes you wanted.
Great job!
Hi,
I'm running an open beta for the new mango version. If you have a mango device and some time I would really appreciate any and all feedback.
The xap is available on my blog http://gripdev.wordpress.com
mupets_revenge said:
Hi,
I'm running an open beta for the new mango version. If you have a mango device and some time I would really appreciate any and all feedback.
The xap is available on my blog http://gripdev.wordpress.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, will check it out later today and comment.
cheers
just got a chance to look at it. Overall great, a little rough. Under 'most read' some news do not show images and there is just an empty spot. looks odd with just the text box. maybe a default image of a newspaper?
when I scroll to the second page of 'most read' it seems to have a different background, a flight map that shows LA?
when I continue to scroll into feeds, the first background comes back but with a semitransparent edge. The swirl of the edge is not smooth and looks broken when it scrolls over.
when entering any of the news or feeds the the menu bar at bottom doesn't appear smoothly and sticks instead of hiding.
when I am in one Feed, e.g. 'world' would be nice to swipe left and get into the next feed in the feed list instead of going back to it.
when I close the app and reopen it, I am greeted with the splash screen and then for a few seconds a black page with only the green strips at the left and two white dots top right (where the refresh and setting button show up) and 'feeds' label. it then moves to home. It doesn't matter from where I leave the program it always comes back to this.
looks good so far
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback didn't see it before I published the new version today but will work on these for the next beta build.
Thanks again for the help, much appreciated
mupets_revenge said:
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback didn't see it before I published the new version today but will work on these for the next beta build.
Thanks again for the help, much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool, will check out the updates.
New beta hopefully fixing these issues is now available, let me know what you think.
live tile is updating very often and its cool, app works fluent and looks nice.
Well made app overall.
mupets_revenge said:
New beta hopefully fixing these issues is now available, let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like it a lot .
1) I still would like to see sideways slide in the feeds section, just like on the main page. Coming from the main page and sliding horizontally to next page, I intuitively try the same in the feed section just to remind myself that I have to go back first before I can go to the next feed.
2) I know I am picky. the live tile doesn't look right. the text is not centered correctly, it does odd line breaks and lines up with right side (no space between letters and edge of tile) . the background in the top part should be either them color or just white. the white/red stuff towards the right of the images is distracting. The news image is not centered in the top tile, leaving unequal white edges around it. Would be cool to have the live tile flip horizontal once in a while to accent it.
How about top half image fills tile completely, bottom half tile uses theme color.
otherwise great for a German living in the US (No Tagesschau or Spiegel yet)
thank you
Just downloaded 2.65 xap. Will give you some feedbacks soon. Thanks.
zard said:
Just downloaded 2.65 xap. Will give you some feedbacks soon. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great piece of work. Running on Mango 7720, works fine. The only feedback I have is the way "Latest" news was implemented. The "white" color fonts on top of the "BBC" background makes the "Latest" news very difficult to read. If the background of the "Latest" news is not translucent, that would probably help.
BTW, is there breaking news like the non-mango version, although this doesn't seem to be working since I upgraded to Mango 7720 or was it a few days before I tested 2.65 xap.
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
PG2G said:
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your ideas, you got something going there, we can build off of that, reason i made this thread to reflect on ideas as such
They look and work fine for me.
vetvito said:
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These ideas should definately be implemented, I totally agree
falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
937dytboi said:
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I agree with you as of not but, the color selection is lame, I want to customize my phone a little. Right now besides using a hack to change or add colors, there is no way to really do that.
I would like to see some type of texture or something to jazz up the tiles a little.
They work great now but, just need a little tweaking in my eyes...
Magpir said:
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
LexusFman said:
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
vetvito said:
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Peew971 said:
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By 'police' I wasn't sure if you meant font size? Or Tile width?
As a developer you're limited by Microsoft to hardly any text on the front of a tile (and only in one specific position), and only the option of a large-ish font on the back of a tile (often too big as you say to display say a full news headline).
You can see what a developer is allowed to change on a tile here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202948(v=vs.92).aspx
i.e. a single number, a small bit of text on the front, some text on the back, and a background image. I think it's too limiting at the moment.
You can get round these limitations a bit by dynamically generating the tile background (for front or back) as an image (e.g. of some smaller font text). That's not easy to code though, especially if you're trying to dynamically generate the image on the phone through say a wp7 background agent. It's a bit easier doing it on a server - but that means it won't work when there's no mobile signal. Having to generate the whole thing as an image (especially just to display smaller font text) also feels a little bit like using a sledgehammer to knock in a nail.
Similarly I think Microsoft should let developers create double width tiles - they could even make it a marketplace certification requirement that the user should have an option of specifying single/double width tile in the app. As long as the user has the option of choosing I can't see the harm.
Microsoft should be giving developers full and easy access to what happens in those 173 by 173 squares of tile pixels. Perhaps even give the user the option in-app as to whether the developer is allowed to make the Tile animate or not - I think then Tiles would become a lot more interesting.
Yeah I meant font size, sorry I'm French
On your app (loving it by the way) the text on the back is usually fine because it displays scores but on BBC News or WPCentral for instance you only get half a headline or something like that which is totally useless as you then need to open the app to know what's going on. It goes against the concept of Live Tiles, I don't get it. On the other hand, on the Me tile the font size adapts to the text there is to display so it is possible, it's just Microsoft not giving access to devs, totally stupid.
link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
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Lie much? For every tile on WP7 I have a widget. Left Widgets behind? What planet are you on?
Tiles offer absolutely no function, only partial information.
Mesh together? Nearly every app implements good tile practices? Sure they do, sure...
Sense is fat and not that good? However your other post perfectly describes Sense.
But yeah
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
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Click to collapse
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
LexusFman said:
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
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For me, the animation of the People tile has seemed pretty useless. There doesn't seem to be any meaning behind what people are displayed and why. If there is, I haven't seen it. I love the People Hub, but the Tile just doesn't provide much value to me.
To me, I would much rather have settings to determine which people would show on the tile. Then disappear once acknowledged, like the email indicators. So, if a contact updates Facebook, I may want to see it. But, I don't care if most of my contacts update things. So, in an ideal world a persons picture would only appear if they had updated something. Then it would be hidden and remain hidden once I acknowledged it. Then if something else would be updated, it would appear. And the users this would apply to would be set by me.
Effectively the animation of the People Tile just seems like noise.
Animation for the sake of animation is just distracting and consumes additional power.
I want the ability to control the app from the tile itself. Kind of like toggle switches.
Hardware limitations
Hi all
I think that some of the limitations on Live tiles are due to hardware considerations. Regular live tiles are limited to one background update per 30 minutes. This is because MS is keen to maintain performance and battery life. I think that as hardware improves, particularly mobile processors, we will see live tile functionality expand.
Cheers
andrew-in-woking
First time really using Mango. I just love the bar at the bottom in IE. As mobile's get bigger it's stunningly awesome. The only thing left I want is for it to hide and I'll swipe to go get it and swiping tabs.
Very cool feature. Thought I would hate it at first.
Its different. But they really need to revamp I.e. N quick and accessible back and forward buttons
Sent from my Venue Pro using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
I second that, what with these huge screens now it's so easy to get to, whereas before was a bit of an effort, especially if you're in bed using it lying down.
bmstrong said:
First time really using Mango. I just love the bar at the bottom in IE. As mobile's get bigger it's stunningly awesome. The only thing left I want is for it to hide and I'll swipe to go get it and swiping tabs.
Very cool feature. Thought I would hate it at first.
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Click to collapse
I don't get it - why do you like the address bar being permanently stuck there? Do you really need to constantly look down and be reminded of what site you're on?
Back / Forward / Favourites / Tabs buttons like on iOS (or WP7 pre-Mango) would be far more useful. I honestly can't see how being able to see the URL of the site is a cool feature; would love it if you could explain..
Aphasaic2002 said:
I don't get it - why do you like the address bar being permanently stuck there? Do you really need to constantly look down and be reminded of what site you're on?
Back / Forward / Favourites / Tabs buttons like on iOS (or WP7 pre-Mango) would be far more useful. I honestly can't see how being able to see the URL of the site is a cool feature; would love it if you could explain..
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Click to collapse
You should read better. He just likes the new position. But he clearly said that he would want it to hide after a few seconds.
I love the address-bar at the bottom and I agree it would be even more awesome if it had autohide after a few secs.
I prefer it at the bottom with no autohide. when i am done reading a site, i want to type a new address or go to favorites, not mess with trying to make it reappear.
It also is following windows 8 metro IE 10. It's the same way.
ROCOAFZ said:
I prefer it at the bottom with no autohide. when i am done reading a site, i want to type a new address or go to favorites, not mess with trying to make it reappear.
It also is following windows 8 metro IE 10. It's the same way.
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Besides the fact that the IE10 address bar on Windows 8 DOES hide on left click.
dkp1977 said:
Besides the fact that the IE10 address bar on Windows 8 DOES hide on left click.
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Click to collapse
It hasn't on my tablet. I'll retest it tonight but i don't remember seeing it on the customer preview.
I like it at the bottom as well
ROCOAFZ said:
It hasn't on my tablet. I'll retest it tonight but i don't remember seeing it on the customer preview.
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Click to collapse
Just tap anywhere on a site that doesn't contain a link. Your address bar should disappear. At least it does on my W8 CP when I left click.
On my Trophy, the address bar at the bottom is a pain for me. I do a lot of single-hand typing - when the address bar was at the top, it was easy to 'thumb', but now its just not as easy...more risk me dropping the phone etc.
Plus I now sometimes accidentally press the windows or back button as well, when selecting the bar.
A simple option in settings would be nice.
Sent from my 7 Trophy using Board Express
dkp1977 said:
Just tap anywhere on a site that doesn't contain a link. Your address bar should disappear. At least it does on my W8 CP when I left click.
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Click to collapse
confirmed. Not sure why i didn't notice the behavior. You have to wait for the site to finish loading before it will minimize. on Windows 8 CP
Its good and there should be a button to swap tabs at the side of the address bar.
I feel like Windows Phone 8 will bring a lot of gestures and UX elements from Windows 8. For example IE will be full screen on the phone and you would swipe from the top bar to bring up the menus.. Super awesome I think. Then in the menu you can add the address bar, back and forward buttons or whatever common functions you need in IE.
i don't care if the address bar is at bottom or on top. i need the "find on page" back. i almost stopped using the browser.
weatherx said:
i don't care if the address bar is at bottom or on top. i need the "find on page" back. i almost stopped using the browser.
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Click to collapse
There's a JavaScript that does exactly that. Add it to your favorites and voila, you have your find on page feature back. Not as convenient as having it as part of the menu though.