Scaling up issue on homescreen - Zooper Widget General

Scaling up issue on homescreen - Zooper Widget General

So I am having an issue with Zooper when after I make the widget I like and then put it on the homescreen and when I want to make it bigger, the items on the widget seem to move around and do not stay where they originally were when it was smaller.
Is it possible to make them scale up properly (and dont move) for when I adjust the edges or would I have to make it the size I want on the homescreen then move them back to where I want them?

jonnyg1097 said:
So I am having an issue with Zooper when after I make the widget I like and then put it on the homescreen and when I want to make it bigger, the items on the widget seem to move around and do not stay where they originally were when it was smaller.
Is it possible to make them scale up properly (and dont move) for when I adjust the edges or would I have to make it the size I want on the homescreen then move them back to where I want them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can influence the scaling behavior by choosing the correct anchor points for the modules you are adding. Anchor points are the reference to which the x/y offsets are applied. Top for instance is the top edge of the widget. If you resize a widget all modules are repositioned according to their anchor points and if modules have different anchors, they will move around in different ways.
If you want to create a more static layout, either choose center for all modules (widget will expand but items will stay right where they are) or select fitting anchor points depending on how you want the modules to behave when the widget is scaled (modules that should have a static distance from the left edge of the widget should have the anchor point left center for instance).
I hope my description is understandable. If not, feel free to ask for more details

I think I follow and understand what you are getting at, I will try moving the anchors around and see if that helps.

Related

[Q] How do I make images like this?

I recently saw images in the themes section, that I loved and subsequently now use for my phone. Shown:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781455
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=783946
Now, how do I resize the images properly? Scale, resize? Differences? What program to use (free, I'd prefer)? How to add that black bar so lovely at the bottom of the images and the text there? I tried figuring it out, but I couldn't figure out how to search how to do that specific thing.
Any help would be great! I want to start making images in that fashion for other applications, as those are very limited.

When I had my Hero, you could download Desktop Visualizer - this will allow you to associate certain pictures to the icons you want. It will also allow you yo resize them....my suggestion is start with a big icon and resize it smaller - smaller to big makes it look grainy...as for the dock bar....I used (use) LauncherPro - under LauncherPro setting you can change the dockbar....hope this helps!!

The black bar at the bottom looks to be a custom dock for LauncherPro. I've seen it in collections of LP Docks before (I'm unfortunately not immediately able to find it, but google it and spend a few minutes, and you ought to find it no prob).
As for the icons, Simi Folder would be one way to do it if what you're linking to is a folder. Not sure for just an icon that links directly to an app -- you can certainly resize icons in LPP, but I'm not sure off the top of my head how to do it and maintain the scale. You could probably compress it using Photoshop such that when it gets stretched, it looks correct? I dunno, someone else may have better ideas...

I believe people are misunderstanding what I'm asking.
I know how to get it all set up on my homescreen and such. I have the setup like that currently, no problem, using DesktopVisualizer and LPP.
I'm more asking about how they placed those bars on the image and the writing. See, they have an image that they got from wherever on the internet, put that minimalistic black transparent bar on the bottom and wrote "Texts" there, so that one would use it as a tile of sorts (as the theme they're going for is an "Android Phone 7" sort of thing"). I want to basically get images from wherever in the internet as well and use them for other applications. Like, create a, say, "Market" one, where the image I found will represent in some form, a market, and then put that black transparent bar in the image and type "Market" in some font in the corner like they did so that I can then use DesktopVisualizer to use the image as the icon in the manner shown in those posts. I'm assuming you can't just go and place a huge image (####x###) as the icon and hope it fits right. They resized theirs down to like 355x115 or something. Every time I try to resize something like that, though, it does not like it in the least. So, I'm wondering how they did that, too.
In a sense, they're like icon sets, if you will, and I want to then expand their offerings, as they only offer "icons" for a few applications or needs.
God, what a text wall. Sorry!

I wouldn't mind knowing myself, I'm all for customizing my Evo, and the more I learn the better I can do so.

I'm sure it's a relatively simple process, I just simply don't know how and wouldn't even know how to search for it. Like, what, "black bar on image?" Ha!
Hundreds of views, hardly any replies! You'd think this wise community would know!

totalanonymity said:
I believe people are misunderstanding what I'm asking.
I know how to get it all set up on my homescreen and such. I have the setup like that currently, no problem, using DesktopVisualizer and LPP.
I'm more asking about how they placed those bars on the image and the writing. See, they have an image that they got from wherever on the internet, put that minimalistic black transparent bar on the bottom and wrote "Texts" there, so that one would use it as a tile of sorts (as the theme they're going for is an "Android Phone 7" sort of thing"). I want to basically get images from wherever in the internet as well and use them for other applications. Like, create a, say, "Market" one, where the image I found will represent in some form, a market, and then put that black transparent bar in the image and type "Market" in some font in the corner like they did so that I can then use DesktopVisualizer to use the image as the icon in the manner shown in those posts. I'm assuming you can't just go and place a huge image (####x###) as the icon and hope it fits right. They resized theirs down to like 355x115 or something. Every time I try to resize something like that, though, it does not like it in the least. So, I'm wondering how they did that, too.
In a sense, they're like icon sets, if you will, and I want to then expand their offerings, as they only offer "icons" for a few applications or needs.
God, what a text wall. Sorry!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The text is just in the image, it isn't some magical add-on. It is probably just a black rectangle and then transparency adjusted to taste.
There are a handful of win7 style icon packs like that. You could use one of those as a template (for size) and use your own images and text. Minimal PS or GIMP experience needed. Just keep the aspect ratio of the images when you are resizing them and provided they aren't absurdly larger than the ~355x115 or whatever size you are aiming for they should still look fine.

The second link says it comes with photoshop templates. You could always just download the 30 day free trial of photoshop.

looks like a simple photoshop job to me, just add a second layer above the background, rectangle marquee the section you want to be the transparent bar, then paint bucket the area with a black (or any color) at 50% opacity, then add text.

jstalford said:
The second link says it comes with photoshop templates. You could always just download the 30 day free trial of photoshop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, can't believe I missed that. Oops!

Those are pretty cool looking layouts nice find.

{Team Rejectz} THEME/DESIGN CHEAT SHEET{moved to theme sec sorry} {Still Working On}

This first post is about using Adobe Illustrator
I figured I would share a little knowlege of my designing and how when i came to android it helped out in making theming my rom so much quicker
ATTACHED AT THE BOTTOM IS A STARTER LAYOUT TO HELP MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR YOU!!!!!! :fingers-crossed:
THEME/DESIGN CHEAT SHEET
INDEX1. Tools..........................................................................
2. Begin.........................................................
3. The Setup...........................................
4. The Artboards.........................................................
5. Adding And Modifying Multiple Artboards.....................
6. Saving your Icons.................................
7. Layers, Colors, And Strokes................................................
8. SELECTING MULTIPLE LAYERS AND ICONS TO CHANGE COLOR AT ONCE.
9. TRACING TOOL...................................................
10. Keyboard shortcuts coming soon
1.TOOLS
First remove Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks from your playlist. To me these tools are crap or for short cuts. lol but short cuts coming soon
"Adobe Illustrator" and some quick learning or know how.
I'm not going to go over every single tool because if anyone knows illustrator lol its just way to many. Im just going to get to the main ones in this case in point.
2. BEGIN
Adobe Illustrator is one of the best graphic design tool I've ever used Ever. Your images would no longer start of as just a pic anymore. Now its time to learn vector.
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics. "Vector", in this context, implies more than a straight line.
Vector graphics is based on images made up of vectors (also called paths, or strokes) which lead through locations called control points. Each of these points has a definite position on the x and y axes of the work plan. Each point, as well, is a variety of database, including the location of the point in the work space and the direction of the vector (which is what defines the direction of the track). Each track can be assigned a color, a shape, a thickness and also a fill. This does not affect the size of the files in a substantial way because all information resides in the structure; it describes how to draw the vector.
WIKI^^^^^ thanks
In short this means that all the res you would lose resizing images in Photoshop or Fireworks wouldn't be lost in Adobe illustrator because it use the vector format
When designing in vector you have so many capabilities that any format doesn't, like proper shading, 3D effects and the easiest way to change the color of multiple vec's at once on the same artboard.
The art board is the space and area in which your design would be held on. It's the only part that would be use to create the png, jpeg, etc. Anything on the edge or off of the artboard wouldn't come up at all in the image. This is convenient to me because I like to have almost the entire framework or system res themed perfectly. Meaning all color and tints and shade all match to the T. You also can line up anything to the artboard or to an object perfectly, so no more miss shaped png's lol.
There's also some tools there that you also seen in Photoshop and Fireworks.
My favorite part of adobe illustrator is the Effects section. This is how to avoid messing up when trying to make your own shading, shadows, 3D effects, glows and more. Trust me, when you get a taste of the effects your going to be trying anything!!!!!!
3. THE SETUP
Now it's time to prepare.
First you need to start a new project. Go to file and select new. Give your project a name. i prefer the name of the rom.
New documents profile - Don't change this because it going to change to custom by itself.
Number Of Art Boards - Keep this at 1 (im going to tell you how to add more)
Size - don't touch anything after size, just make sure Units Say Pixels
Advanced(drop down the menu) - There are 2 color mode RGB - and CMYK. Rgb modes give your stage for the artboards a white background as if it was on paper. Cmyk leave it empty or transparent like in a PNG. It's your choice on which you want.
Raster Effects - Make sure it's at High 300 PPI
4. THE ARTBOARDS
THERE IS A STARTER KIT FOR ARTBOARDS ATTACHED
The Artboard is pretty much a stage. This is where all the magic happens.
Now when your designing any icon you should make sure you know the sizes. Knowing all the sizes can be a hassle right, but this is where it gets really easy. Say you have 30 icons that are 72x72 if you have a project set up with multiple art boards you would be fine. because once you have made all the icons the save size is just a drag and click away.
5. ADDING AND MODIFYING MULTIPLE ART BOARDS
If you noticed which I'm sure everyone has, that some images match the size of other. This is where it gets very easy to make save and do it in a quick fashion.
Go to "File", scroll down to Document Setup and click on it. A window will appear don' worry about anything it the window unless you want to change things yourself. Just go to Edit artboard. You will notice that the screen has turned grey and now you artboard is the only thing thats white. If you hover over the grey you will see that your drag symbol has turned into a square. Us this to add more artboards. Click and hold on to the grey area and drag your mouse. You will see that you just added another artboard. To resize the artboard the Width which is labeled W and the Height which is labeled H will be in the upper right hand corner. Click on the artboard you want and start to reshape it according to the size you need. You can also drag the artboards to which ever place you want it to sit. Once done just click on the mouse pointer icon on the right and everything will be back to normal.
6. SAVING YOUR ICONS
When saving your icons make sure that where ever your project is you have it as the target location when saving. On your first save you should locate the folder and where the original file is and replace and save it. No need to type in the name. If you know where it is alphabetically, then just scroll to it, click on it and the name should appear in the File name box. If it tell you the file already exist, Do you want to replace? click Yes, but make sure you have a backup copy of the folder just in case. Also make sure you are on the right art board when saving. All it takes is a click on the artboard and you would be just fine.
7. ANCHORS, LAYERS, COLORS, AND STROKES
You ever find it a very long task to make all your icons the same or correct color. Or in short make them match. Well in vector format you can change all of the icons color at once. It has to be selected though. I know you wondered what the white arrow was for, well wonder no more. The white arrow it to select a layer, stroke, or any anchor on the vector image.
ANCHOR - this is single or multiple dots on a vector image that controls the path, line and/or stroke.
Layer is a section of the image thats either below, side by side, or on top of another image. You can change positions by right clicking on the image and use arrange to move its position.
Colors well you know what these are, But Illustrator has three different kind Grey Scale, RGB and CMYK (will be explained later)
Strokes are pretty much a line. It can be around the image, by itself or combined to create an image.( Will Be explained on how to manipulate a stroke in a image.)
To make it short grab the white pointer and have at it lol.
8. SELECTING MULTIPLE LAYERS AND ICONS TO CHANGE COLOR AT ONCE.
We all know images have layers but say you have several vector images that are 2 colored icons or more colors just stick with 2 for a sec. If you go to the image with the white pointer, You can click on the one color on the image and change it without making a mistake and turning the whole icon one color. Now to select more than one of the icons, say all of them where blue and green. Click on the green part of the icon. Now go to the top and click on "Select" scroll down to same. When the menu pop out, you will see that there are many ways to select multiple types of images. For right now click the one that says "Fill Color". All of the icons will be selected that has that same shade or ton of green. (note you must have them already colored in to match in order to select same). Now when you change the color they all will adjust together to make them Perfect.
9. TRACING TOOL.
This tool i would recommend that you stay away from and just design your stuff from scratch. Now I'm about to contradict myself lol but this tool is so f'ing handy if used right.
When tracing and image your pretty much turning it into a vector image with paths, strokes, and anchors. Its pretty much a conversion tool but difficult to use. If you have a colorful image that's when it gets hard. But if you have like a solid color shape its kinda easy.
Say like you have a picture of a solid black triangle in .png and .jpeg because you didn't feel like drawing one. Drag it to the artboard. You will see a button up top that wasn't there b4 called "Live Trace". Click on it and you will see your triangle go from a rough .png/.jpeg image to a smooth vector format triangle.
Now it gets hard.
If you have a multiple color image there are ways to trace it to a vector but not all get it the way you want. Just play around with it a little and you will see what i mean. The traces I'm talking about are in the drop down menu right next to the "Live Trace" button. You will see a slim button with a down pointing arrow.
10. Keyboard short Cuts(coming Soon)
To Be Continued - meaning im Sleepy lol

Photoshop Short Cuts
Photoshop Short Cuts

Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts
Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts

Using Adobe Flash To Make Bootanimations, Banners, and Sigs
Using Adobe Flash To Make Bootanimations, Banners, and Sigs

lorjay589 said:
Using Adobe Flash To Make Bootanimations, Banners, and Sigs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is damn near the best post for theming I've ever seen! Simply awesome!. Please put this in the theming section for other young devs and themers alike. This should be a sticky!

{Team Rejectz} THEME/DESIGN CHEAT SHEET {Still Working On}

Photoshop Short Cuts
Photoshop Shortcuts
Index
1. .9 shortcuts Without Decompressed png
2. Batch File Opperation

Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts
Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts

even more

My biggest problem would be the dreaded 9patch
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

gtuansdiamm said:
My biggest problem would be the dreaded 9patch
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dreaded 9patch? what is so hard about .9's

rujelus22 said:
dreaded 9patch? what is so hard about .9's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol yea thats the same thing i was thinking but, Im going to put a short cut for .9 patches for people who don't know how to do it. For Photoshop and Fireworks. But im not going to go into full details because there are post on here with that. Im just going to explain a quick way without decompressing a .9 png

Dude, this rocks. I will be using this like crazy for sure.

hi, I'm interested in learning how to theme, but I must admit, teaching me may be a pretty big project since the extent of my experience is making themes in UOT Kitchen.
would this tool be a good place to start?

mjs2011 said:
hi, I'm interested in learning how to theme, but I must admit, teaching me may be a pretty big project since the extent of my experience is making themes in UOT Kitchen.
would this tool be a good place to start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes sir this is the perfect place, while not done, im going to apply all of my knowledge of design to help out

Thanks! I may reach out to you privately as well, because I'd really be starting from scratch.

What would be killer is if we had a reference guide for the names for certain harder to find pngs. Background files and such.

[LAUNCHER/TUTORIAL] SSLauncher - Easily the best Launcher for Customizing (PERIOD)

Tired of searching for themes on your phones?
Tired of using Desktop Visualizer eating up all your RAM and being a pain in the back with all those widget sizes?
Tired of not being able to make the phone look the way YOU want it?
THEN USE SS LAUNCHER!
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
This pretty unknown launcher could be considered as the evolution of Lightning Launcher. The Stock Layout sucks but who cares - if you are into theming, this is the launcher for you!
Features:
- LIGHT (1MB!!!) and blazing fast
- App Drawer Page on Homescreen
- Freely customizable Icons on Homescreen AND App Drawer
- Scrolling vertically on every page if you want it!
- No more Desktop Visualizer - easily resize your Icons and make awesome tiles!
- NO MORE GRIDS! Freely align widgets and shortcuts, even with Overlapping!
- Pretty much every feature you could ask for!
I barely see any themers using this launcher as it is pretty unknown (100.000 Downloads only), but on screenlicious you get a glimpse of what can be done:
TUTORIALS:
0. Preparations
1. Creating Tiles
2. Icons, Wallpapers and Background
3. Creating Previews
4. Rounded Tiles
0. Preparations
There is some unneccessary stuff on SSLauncher. First, you should get rid of all the homescreens except for one, because the given templates are - sorry - horrible. You will most likely only use a Homescreen-Page and an Apps-Page.
To Delete a page, simply tap on your "Menu"-Button, select "Pages" and then "delete page".
Afterwards, you might want to get rid of the labels. They are handy if you use a lot of pages, but for really minimal results you should hide them.
To hide labels on top (only free-version - paid version has an option for it), hit the "Menu"-Button again, select "Pages" and choose "Label Fonts&Style".
Set the Font size to "10", then disable shadows if neccessary (set Shadow "Radius" to 0) and change the opacity of Active/Inactive Color to zero as well - simply
tap on the arrows on the right side in the "Active Color" / "Inactive Color" and set the Value "opacity" to zero.
To hide the status bar, tap on "Menu"-Button, "Preferences" and "Fullscreen". There you can also choose "Ignore page background" to get rid of the layer on the background page.
1. How to create your own Tiles
Needed:
GIMP 2.0
SSLauncher
TypoClock Free Widget
Weather Eye
Let's face it - it really sucks if your UI depends on the Wallpaper too much and if you have to build UI-elements into it. Every time you want to change your wallpaper, you have to
edit the PSD again too and this can be very annoying - not to mention the issue with Live-Wallpapers.
SSLauncher has 2 very unique features to avoid this: First, you can resize any widgets/icons FREELY, as there is NO GRID. Second, you can even let widgets/icons OVERLAP.
Basically, you only need a Tile and (optional) some content.
I want to give you a quick tutorial on how to use GIMP 2.0 for this purpose - I am a total noob by myself but this stuff is REALLY easy to learn.
Working with layers makes your life a lot easier. The awesome thing about customizing is, that you can get templates and lot of PSDs for free in the
internet, so you won't need to have epic-editing-skills but can edit the files as you need them. So download GIMP 2.0, and install it (it's free of course).
So here is how I create my tiles:
These 2 Guys are going to be your best friends and you wont be using much except for some tools. I will be referring to "Toolbox" for the left one and "Layerbox"
to the right one.
Step 1: Create a new Image with the size of your screen (most likely for SGS2-Users: 480x800). This will help you to determine the actual size of your tiles.
Step 2: Choose your wallpaper. This makes it easier to imagine, how everything will look like later on. Simply drag the Image into GIMP and it will appear as a new Layer.
Step 3: Scale/Move your wallpaper as you wish and when you are satisfied with the look, rightclick on your wallpaper in the Layerbox and choose "Merge Down".
Step 4: Create a new layer - this is going to be your tile. For the one as the picture above, I used 460x160 as dimensions, so I have some space on the sides. Fill the
Layer with some color so you can easily drag it around.
Step 5: Choose the background of your tile. Basically works the same as Step 2, but you might want to open a second GIMP-window for this purpose as it makes scaling easier. Make sure to drag it into your first window while you selected the tile in the Layerbox, so the picture will be cut off to the right size.
Step 6: Create another layer for the fontbackground. Width is the same as the tile, height should be according to the size of your font (I chose 20 as height). Fill it up with
some color again (I used grey) and drag it to the right place
Step 7: Add a font by using the tool from your toolbox. This might be a little bit tricky at first, you will have to type your desired text, then mark it and THEN you will be able to change fontsize etc. . I used Geosanslight, white font, Size is 18p.
Step 8: The last thing to do is to export the tile (to use it on your phone) and add some shadow. To cut out multiple layers, simply click on the eye in the layerbox so that you can ONLY see the layers you want to edit. In our case, just remove the eye on the "Wallpaper" Layer and only the tile with the text etc. will be left. Afterwards, hit SHIFT+CTRL+C so your tile will be copied completely. Now create a new file sized the same as your tile (460x160) in our case) and insert the tile.
Step 9: Now we gonna add some shadow. Click on "Filter", "Light and Shadows" and select "Drop Shadow". A menu will popup where you can set some values. I recommend to use a smaller Radius (I use 4, but it depends on the size of your image) and less offset too (I use 2 for both X-Offset and Y-Offset), so it will look cleaner.
Step 10: The last thing you have to do is to export your file - hit CTRL+E and export is as a PNG file to your desired location. FINISHED!
If you are able to do this stuff you can do a lot of theming already with little effort!
Adding the tile to SSLauncher is pretty easy once you got used to it.
Simply hold down your finger on the homescreen till the "New Object" screen shows up. Select "Shortcut" and choose a "target", the App that should be opening when you click on the tile. Then, select a "Style" - a lot of layouts are going to pop up. As we want a pure tile you should select the Icon without any text or backgrounds. Next, click on "Icon (Change styles of icon)" , then on "Icon (Select an icon Image)" , then click on "Add an Image" and choose the tile you want. Afterwards, click on "Icon Size" and resize it.
The actual size of the tile (460x160) might be too big, but you can rescale the tile on the homescreen anyways. I experimented a bit (the "Scale" tool from GIMP 2.0 really helps with getting the right size in the right aspect ration too!) and 375x114 should be the right size for our tile. This is essential to know if you want to add a lot of tiles and want them to look
the same!
Remember to ALWAYS scroll down and click on "Apply settings", otherwise ... well, the settings won't apply. You will have to do this twice. Now the tile will appear on your homescreen and you can rescale and move it around as you wish - the arrows will help you to align the tile perfectly!
To achieve the look from above, just add the widgets to your homescreen, rescale them and move them above the tile. There you go!
2. Icons and Appdrawer
Needed:
Simple Text Icon Creator
Multi-Picture-Livewallpaper
Wallbase HD
There are a lot of different Icon-Styls with SSLauncher and you should figure out yourself what suits you best - plain Text, a Tile, Icons only, Icons and text... I just want to point out some things I noticed.
First of all, you should decide what kind of icons you want to use. I highly recommend the Jaku Icons, it's probably the easiest way to get your hands on a full set of icons. Many Icon packs lack images for certain Apps and this can be really annoying. There isn't an icon for everything on Jaku, but there is a lot of them.
Another way is to create your own Icons with Simple Text Creator. This way you can make simple Text-Icons for all of your apps, but some might not like the look.
With SSLauncher, you can edit/hide every single App manually and also hide Apps you don't have an icon for or which you don't use. There is no other launcher AFAIK where you can change the Icons in the App-Drawer manually. You can also rename, change Font-Color (at "Menu"-Button, "Theme", change the "Medium" Font") and also change the common settings for all Apps at once if you hit the "Menu"-Button, "Preferences" and scroll down to the Preferences for the "Apps" Page.
If you don't want to have the same wallpaper on your app drawer as on your homescreen, you should try Multi-Picture-Wallpaper. It allow you to set a different wallpaper for every screen. There is also an option for this in SSLauncher, but I prefer this way because it's easier. You can even decrease saturation and brightness, which looks pretty nice - I use the same wallpaper on my app drawer, but set the saturation to 40 percent.
You need to pay attention here because SSLauncher always uses 2 additional screens (one more on the left and one more on the right) which you can't see nor access. Still they are count by Multi-Picture-Wallpaper, so you need set a wallpaper for those screens too.
Finding the right wallpaper can be kind of an issue too but hey, there's an app for that. I like Wallbase HD the most, cause the wallpapers suit my taste. The App-Design is marvelous too, so it's definetly worth a try.
3. Creating a preview
Needed:
GIMP 2.0
Samsung Galaxy S2 template for the screenshots (Download attached), big thanks to Pethey, give him some credit! I just scaled it down to fit my needs.
So you got your homescreen finished and want to present it to everybody else? No Problem, just make sure to use a SGS 2 template and be proud of your phone too
There are a lot of PSDs for the SGS2 but for this purpose, I recommend mine because it is very very noob friendly and easy to edit. I basically merged all layers you wont touch anyways.
Step 1: Make some screenshots. 2 or 3 should do the work, better to have a few big screens than dozen small ones. On my ROM (Sensation Rom 3.5) you need to Hold down Power+Volumedown for a few secs. This might trigger your volume if you don't press the Powerbutton first.
Step 2: Open the Samsung Galaxy S2 - xcf which you downloaded in GIMP 2.0 and look at the Layerbox. There is a layer called "INSERT SCREEN HERE". Just DRAG your screenshot into that layer and it will fit in perfectly, I resized it to match the screenshot resolution.
Step 3: Open your desired background for your preview in GIMP 2.0. Now go back to your screenshot, click on "Edit" and then on "Copy visible layers" (or something like that, my GIMP is in german...). This will cause GIMP to copy the whole thing without having to merge the layers.
Step 4: Copy the SGS 2 with your screenshot onto your chosen background. You might need to rescale the image a bit - I chose 1280x800 as my Preview-Wallpaper and scale down the Device with the screenshot to an height of 780. Add some fonts if you want (dafont.com is a good place for getting fonts! Just download the ttf and install it like a program).
Step 5: Repeat Step 1-4 for every screenshot you want to include.
NOTICE: .XCF files are GIMP-Files. They arent pictures, cause the include layers and other informations to further edit the "project". You need to click on "File", "export to" and export it as jpeg or png to view it as an image.
4. Rounded Tiles (WebOS-Style)
Needed:
GIMP 2.0
Widgets on Screen:
Minimal Reader
Weather Eye
ACWidgets: Your Calendar
Not sure if anyone is interested but I like to experiment with different tile-styles. So here is how I create rounded ones:
Step 1: Create a new GIMP File with the size of your tile - I choose 460x160 again.
Step 2: Drag the Wallpaper for the tile into the layerbox, rightclick on the wallpaperlayer and click on "Add Alpha" -
this will be the transparent background. Delete the white background-layer, you dont need it anymore.
Step 3: Now click on "Edit" and then "Rounded corners". Reduce the radius to 14, as you only want it to be rounded a little bit.
Step 4: Click on "Edit" again, then "downsize" (or shrink or whatever) - this is the space which is left around your tile. 2-4 px will do the job.
Step 5: Hit "Edit" again, then "invert" and then on Delete or CTRL+X. This will remove the edges so you only have your rounded tile left.
Step 6: Hit SHIFT+CTRL+C to copy all visible layers. Create a new layer sized "460x160" and hit CTRL+V to paste your tile into that layer.
This is important, because if you don't do this, the actual size of the Image will be the size of your wallpaper, messing up the shadow.
Step 6: Rightclick on your Tile in the layerbox and make it to a new layer. Add some shadow - "Filter", "Light and Shadow", "Drop Shadow".
Set the offset to zero, as you want to get the shadow all around the tile.
Finished! Now export your tile and have some fun

I tried it out a while back but wasn't a fan. Interesting launcher though.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

I'm theming my home screen every day with desktop visualizer etc. I'll try this now
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

very good launcher! and some people made good themes I tried but unless. I wish they would share their themes
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

I added a quick tutorial how I do my tiles. I wish some dev would take this launcher and make a kickass minimalistic ROM... we got dozens of Sammys and AOKP/CM9/MIUI stuff but not a single minimalistic and elegant ROM
Greetings

Awesome tutorial! Thanks! This is gonna be fun
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

it is quite surprising that many people did not know about this launcher.

It's awesome. But... lol is there an option to have an app drawer that isn't on the home screens?
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kyleforge said:
It's awesome. But... lol is there an option to have an app drawer that isn't on the home screens?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so, but I think having the Icons on your homescreen is better anyways for accessability. You can create a Shortcut to link to your App Drawer, but you must have an App Drawer Page.
Greetings

Nice launcher....just installed n used it. Will be stickin wid it for a while
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I installed a free app called App Drawer.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...1bGwsMSwyLDIxMiwiSmFrZWRVcC5BcHBEcmF3ZXIiXQ..
Then on my home screen I put a shortcut to it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

kyleforge said:
I installed a free app called App Drawer.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...1bGwsMSwyLDIxMiwiSmFrZWRVcC5BcHBEcmF3ZXIiXQ..
Then on my home screen I put a shortcut to it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never seen that app before, nice. Still I stick to the Meego Style (everything on the homescreen) but it's personal preference.
Adding some more hints and tips atm ~
Greetings

I had a play around and came up with this in about 20 minutes
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

I am working on a tutorial and a PSD so you can easily create your own theme previews Stay tuned
I am going to use this one from now on, but will crop it as it is really big...
http://pethey.deviantart.com/art/Samsung-Galaxy-S2-PSD-294811877
Greetinsg

Ok after some troubles with the speaker on the PSD I finally managed to create and upload a XCF-Template to create a preview. Feel free to use it, screenshots look way more awesome like that
Greetings

I agree this is the best launcher out there right now. Its still relatively new but given time, I believe it will get the attention it deserves Right now when people Google best launcher for Android, its not surprising that the mature established ones pop up the most. I love detailed theming so when I stumbled upon sslauncher by accident, it was like wow why didn't I hear about this before?? After that it was bye-bye Go Launcher...

Aaand another quick tutorial (lol they are getting shorter and shorter), this time for round tiles. Any hints and tips (espec. from Pro's) are highly appreciated! Searching for a way to replicate the White-Gradient which can be seen on iOS a lot...
Check my tumblr for inspirational UI-Designs I only choose the best of the best...
Greetings

this is the best thing ever
but it doesn't look like Multiple Wallpapers work on the Epic 4G Touch
i've looked high and low but i guess it just doesn't work right now

doc_hardware said:
but it doesn't look like Multiple Wallpapers work on the Epic 4G Touch
i've looked high and low but i guess it just doesn't work right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should work with the App "Multi-Picture-Live-Wallpaper". Look for it in the Play store, here
is a link: http://goo.gl/1MWqw

How do you get this to work with Multi-Picture-Live Wallpaper? Do I have to turn anything on or off with settings? I'm liking this launcher, just need to get the wallpaper to change when swiping to each new screen. I like "5" screens (which I currently have GO set with MPL wallpaper). What should I change? All I am getting is the home screen (that is my home on GO and default), it's not scrolling or changing, just "dimming".
edit: Nevermind, don't need MPLWP, app does everything I want without it. Fantastic launcher! One of the few apps I actually "paid" for. GO is now gone.

[Theme] misaClean - Tutorial

misaClean Theme - Tutorial
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Video below
http://youtu.be/sVGO_NuJAmw
To start things off, this is going to be my first tutorial on making a theme. This is actually my first theme I've really made. To be honest, I was actually quite surprised at how many people were interested in my theme and how I created it. Since I had quite a bit of response to it, and people wanting to create theirs, I decided to create a tutorial so that anyone could either copy what I did, or use my idea as a base to create their own unique theme. Before I get started, I would like to thank Deusex74 for creating the theme that inspired me to create my own. So without much further ado, let's begin the tutorial! =)
Apps needed:
Weather: Eye In The Sky
Home Calendar: Jorte
Church Calendar: Simple Calendar
Clocks: Zooper
Launcher: Apex Launcher or Nova Launcher, or any other launcher that will allow you to resize the grid, and have shortcuts that will allow you to go to certain pages.
Icons: Desktop VisualizeR
Wallpaper: MultiPicture Live Wallpaper
Programs:
Photoshop, or something similar would be great. I guess you could also make this in paint, but the editing program is up to you.
First thing I did was decide on how many spaces would be in my grid to fit everything I wanted and not look too crowded. I created an empty screen, removed the dock, and took an icon and placed it on the screen. After holding it, a grid with crosshairs pop up, once that popped up, I took a screen shot.
Next step is to take that screenshot and open it in Photoshop. You then have the correct resolution for the screen, and the grid for the layout. Open the rulers (Cmd+R or Ctrl+R), and drag out guideline from the ruler to each of the cross hairs. Once it's completed, it should look like this.
You now have the basic grid on how icons will fit on your screen.
From here, you can choose how big you want the picture to be to fit on the screen. After determining that, and placing it on your screen, it should look like this:.
Determine how many tabs you want, and how big you want them to be. For me, I wanted only 3 tabs to have 3 pages. If you want more, you might need to tweak the amount of your grid size so that the icons you will use to direct to each page, will fit. Remember, we still need to have icons that will direct you to the right page.
So since I only had 3 tabs, I wanted to make the home tab the largest and in the center, taking up 3 spaces, while the others only took 2 spaces.
After setting those up and creating your dividers, you can create the colored bar to span across the page just above your tabs. It should now look like this with the guide lines turned off
That's all there is to making your first page. After that, just copy that and repeat for your next pages. Your layout should look like this when completed with the layers all the same for each page.
Save your wallpapers as a png for a higher quality image.
Now, unless you want to create your own icons, you're done with Photoshop and on the computer. You can skip down below on how to make it work on your tablet.
If you want icons, it's quite simple. Since you already have the grid and guide line in place, you already know how big each icon will be. With your guide lines turned on, take your marquee tool
and draw out the square indicating how big one icon will be. You will need to create at least one of these in this size to create a blank icon.
After selecting this shape, fill it with a color on a new layer. It doesn't matter the color. After filling it, copy it (Cmd+C or Ctrl+C). Go to file and create a new file with your clipboard as your preset. Then change the resolution to 150, just so it can look cleaner on a higher res screen. Your height and width may vary depending on your grid size you set up in the beginning.
With this new file, you can create your icons. You can either find pictures, create icons with Illustrator or any other vector based program. The first thing we will make though, is your blank icon. This blank icon will go over the tabs we created on your homescreen which will act as screen shortcuts. So what you will do is simply turn off the layer(s) so that nothing is on, and you will see a checker board indicating that it is transparent.
Save as a png since jpgs aren't able to save transparencies.
After you are done with your icons, you are finished with your computer, and now we move to the tablet. Of course, make sure you transfer all your pictures to your tablet, via usb, Google Drive, or whatever you choose.
Tablet:
When saving these images onto your tablet, there's kind of a special way on how and where to save them. Create a folder named misaClean Theme in the root folder if your internal memory. In that folder, you will create several folders. First folder you will create is Wallpapers. Within the wallpapers folder, you will create several folders for each tab you want. So for example, for mine, within the Wallpapers folder, I created a folder named Church, Home, and Media. Within these folders, you will insert the corresponding wallpaper you created. Be sure that no other picture is insider there besides the wallpaper for that page.
*After saving the wallpaper, be sure to crop out the area where the Home, Back, and Multi tab are using the default gallery. When cropping, on the bottom left, you'll see a box that says Original. Press there and be sure to press on None so that there are no cropping dimensions when cropping your wallpaper. You want to make sure you crop out just the wallpaper. So if you had an area for the nav-bar buttons, and the notification panel, be sure to crop that, so that all you have left is just the wallpaper you created.*
Go to your home screen and for wallpaper, click on Live Wallpapers. Choose MultiPicture Live Wallpaper, and click settings. Here you will see Common settings and Screen 1 settings and Add individual settings. Go ahead and add more individual screen settings depending on how many tabs you created. Screen 1 will be your leftmost screen. Even if you want your main page to be something in the center or right, so keep that in mind when setting up which wallpaper will be on each screen.
Click on Screen 1 settings.
Click on Picture source, then click on Picture Folder. (I guess you could also use Single Picture, but for some reason, I had problems, so that's the reason why I'm doing it this way)
Click on Folder Path at the top
Locate where the wallpaper folder is, and press OK.
Repeat for the next screens.
After you are done setting up your wallpaper, set it up as your wallpaper. Now you can go ahead and place all your icons/widgets on your page. Over the tabs you created, I'm not sure if other launchers have this capability, long press and click "Apex Actions." Down at the bottom, you will see Screen 1, 2, etc.
Place those shortcuts over each of the tabs indicating which shortcut goes to which page. It should now look something like this:
Now, it looks a little messy. This is the reason why we created those blank icons. Long press on each of the icons, and press edit. Click on the icon, and replace it with the blank one you created. Repeat that for all the icons.
When you're done, it should look nice and clean, and when you click over each tab, it should direct you to the corresponding page. You now completed the the tutorial, and have a nice clean theme for your home screen. Hope you enjoyed that tutorial.
Thank you for your interest in this tutorial and theme. If you would like to donate, and buy me an ice cream, click the button below. Thanks again!!
Download:
If you want to download the psd I created and just swap out the words and images, feel free. Enjoy!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvoiwamotfqhhva/misaClean.psd
Special thanks to those who donate(and let me know if you did)
kraamerica

******RESERVED********

*************RESERVED**************

Thanks for the guide.
I tried something similar in the past, but not as detailed as you posted.
I mostly arranged my screens with the icons and widgets I wanted to use, made a screenschot of that and used this as a background layer with 30% opacity. Then tried to fit the rest together ^_^
Just out of curiosity. What transmission effect are you using?

Anrikus said:
Thanks for the guide.
I tried something similar in the past, but not as detailed as you posted.
I mostly arranged my screens with the icons and widgets I wanted to use, made a screenschot of that and used this as a background layer with 30% opacity. Then tried to fit the rest together ^_^
Just out of curiosity. What transmission effect are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like an interesting thing. Do you have any pictures of what that looks like? I'd like to see how that was accomplished.
As for the transitions, I'm uploading a video to YouTube so you can see. For Apex, I am using the Scale effect with no infinite scrolling, and for the MultiPicture Live Wallpaper, I am using the 3D Slide.

pnyboy27 said:
That sounds like an interesting thing. Do you have any pictures of what that looks like? I'd like to see how that was accomplished.
As for the transitions, I'm uploading a video to YouTube so you can see. For Apex, I am using the Scale effect with no infinite scrolling, and for the MultiPicture Live Wallpaper, I am using the 3D Slide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I don't think it's very interesting as it sounds.
I basically skipped the part with the grid and used my screenshot as pseudo grid.
Then I started to arrange the images I wanted to use. With the Background I could always crosscheck if everything was in order.
I also used the dockbar to jump to several pages.
So I was able to add more pages without altering the background.
As I said it was the lazy way to create an Background with several pages
For the labels in the dockbar I later used "Simple Text-Text Icon Creator" from the market.

Anrikus said:
Well I don't think it's very interesting as it sounds.
I basically skipped the part with the grid and used my screenshot as pseudo grid.
Then I started to arrange the images I wanted to use. With the Background I could always crosscheck if everything was in order.
I also used the dockbar to jump to several pages.
So I was able to add more pages without altering the background.
As I said it was the lazy way to create an Background with several pages
For the labels in the dockbar I later used "Simple Text-Text Icon Creator" from the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh okay, I see what you did there. Yea, I usually get picky on how things look, haha. If one thing doesn't work, I scrap it all and change plans completely, haha.

oh goodness. THANKS FOR THIS TUTORIAL.
such a clean and simple look. LOVE IT.

Blank Icon .png
Here is a "blank" icon for your use. Or here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/46958507/Blank.png
It's in there, trust me.

excellent howto, just one thing can you share the screenshot with the crosses on it, as I use Nova and for some reason it won't display these and let me do a screen grab as well?

I am not able to get the transitions look smooth/slow like in your video...any other trick on that?

spthacker said:
excellent howto, just one thing can you share the screenshot with the crosses on it, as I use Nova and for some reason it won't display these and let me do a screen grab as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you download my psd, you should be able to just turn on the guidelines under the view menu and select view guidelines. Either that or you can just save the pic I have with the guidelines on the tutorial and create the guidelines. Using my screen shot as a template.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

ExilHh said:
I am not able to get the transitions look smooth/slow like in your video...any other trick on that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are several things you could check. I'm not too familiar with Nova if they have the same settings, but in Apex, if you go to the Apex settings and under home screen settings, you can mess around with the minimum scrolling time, and transition effects. I have mine set at 0 and effect is scale.
For the multi picture wallpaper app, my transition type is 3d slide. I don't see anything here for speed.
And last, if you go to your settings, and down to developer options, you can adjust the transition animation scale as well as the others. You can mess with those until you come up with the right speed you like. Mine is just set to 1x on all 3 of them (window, transition, and animator).
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

pnyboy27 said:
There are several things you could check. I'm not too familiar with Nova if they have the same settings, but in Apex, if you go to the Apex settings and under home screen settings, you can mess around with the minimum scrolling time, and transition effects. I have mine set at 0 and effect is scale.
For the multi picture wallpaper app, my transition type is 3d slide. I don't see anything here for speed.
And last, if you go to your settings, and down to developer options, you can adjust the transition animation scale as well as the others. You can mess with those until you come up with the right speed you like. Mine is just set to 1x on all 3 of them (window, transition, and animator).
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That are the exact settings i used (running Apex) but transitions looks really ugly here...may be its because i use some more screens than only 3. So Apex has to jump from page 2 to 6 for example. Never mind, i will try harder to get a solution! ;o))
Thanx for giving me some inspiration and for your help of course!
Mike

How did you create the icons on the media tab?

ExilHh said:
That are the exact settings i used (running Apex) but transitions looks really ugly here...may be its because i use some more screens than only 3. So Apex has to jump from page 2 to 6 for example. Never mind, i will try harder to get a solution! ;o))
Thanx for giving me some inspiration and for your help of course!
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, having more pages might make things want to move quicker, therefore not really showing much of the animation. If you slow down the animations, you might be able to see them flow a little more. But then again, reaching to another page, might take a while, and make it seem like your tablet's running a little slow. Glad to have helped!
infi.krantz said:
How did you create the icons on the media tab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those icons, it's very similar to the Windows 7 icons others have posted in the past. To do them, I used the same grid that I set up for the wallpaper, and used the marquee tool to select the amount of space I wanted my icon to take up. After selecting it, I filled it with a random color, copied it, opened up a new file using the clipboard preset, and pasted the picture I wanted to represent that app. After creating the image for the icon, and saving it to my tablet, I used Desktop VisualizeR to create the icon.
For example, if I made my image to be 1x3, I used the 1x3 template in DVR. From there you click on the "Select Icon" and locate the image you created. For "Select Action," you choose the corresponding app. If you want a label to go with your icon, you can leave it in, or rename it. Choose your colors for the text and the background, and the touch effect, and you should be good. Click "OK" and you're done.

NICE
spthacker said:
excellent howto, just one thing can you share the screenshot with the crosses on it, as I use Nova and for some reason it won't display these and let me do a screen grab as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW....nice!!!:good:

Hello guys,
Thanks for this tutorial it's huge!!!!
I've made my own theme but i only have one problem left
I use 3 screen the default one (number 2, the one in the middle ) is OK, but when i scroll let or right (it's the same) i see my other wallpapers but they seems to be part of the screen number too because in the screen 1 and 3 i only have black wallpapers It looks like the size is not good or something like that....
I don't know where can be the problem.... The size of the wallpaper? Parameters in Apex (i've selected Multi screen with scrolling and i use a 10x7 grid) ? Parameteres in Multiple pictures (I've selected "fit to fullscreen" for every screen)?
Is there someone who can help me? Thanks in advance.
Best regards.

I've found the solution if it can help someone
Click to: WORKAROUND FOR SOME APPLICATION in multipicture live and then set it to NONE

I love this theme

Develop Bugs

welcome