successor to plass?

[halamjin]

OMG! i'm being very naughty, i'm going against my own words, i've been so bored during this summer holiday that i end up designing a blueprint for a new skin!!!

i'll admit that i'm now in love with the iphone and the Macs... but sadly the iphone will only be available to me next year... what a torment! thus looking at the new interface of the iphone and the interface of leopard and learning from it... i came up with some ideas for a new skin...

i know that palm has a lot of programs for it to use but like the iphone, simplicity is the key... so i'm limiting the number of programs as well as the tools for tweaking... look at the iphone launcher (home screen) - only 16 icons that support user input so why should we clutter the screen with icons for tools - people will also not get confuse with what this icon should do and what another one is for...

one problem lies ahead... the way i want to skin the launcher is limited by the launcher therefore the only way to do this is to sacrifice functionality and use a lot of full transparency and preset placement of things using the background image... that way i can skin freely the way my heart desire

do u think its a good idea to sacrifice functionality for looks? aren't u bored with how your launcher looks like... i know i know there are a lot of themes but it looks all the same... not radical enough (i'm not saying mine is)

[Church Punk]

smooth transparency is hard to achieve in the launhers, specially for the icons. I have tried to simulate the veiw of the iPhone on appshelf but it just doesnt feel good enough.

Im now creating a new package, a complete package i hope, to have a nicer GUI (also mac style)...

[halamjin]

here is what i have so far

[alt236]

That IS nice! Although it might be better in sepia tones (more like old paper or an old envelope)

Any estimated on when it will be done?

[Church Punk]

i doubt you can recreate that on your palm with 16bit (i am assuming this is a photoshop work... cuz i havnt seen a launcher like this)

[halamjin]

i don't think its impossible to have that on your palm, like i said the only thing is you have have to sacrifice functionality and also the ability to customize it (preset placement of things)

starting from the top, it can be done by only putting the battery and signal indicator in the top bar

the middle part, the backimage will contain the "paper", thus all you have to do is to aligned your program icons onto the paper (i think zlauncher have the ability to set how many rows, columns and spacing for the icons), the font for the icons wont be the same unless i incorporated it into the backimage as well (if i do this then just choose no text for icons)

now the bottom area, this is where my question is most relevant (do u think its a good idea to sacrifice functionality for looks?), what i have in mind cannot be done with any present launchers as far as i know, how i imagine it to be is, the four small boxes at the left would be the time, and the bag on the right - when you tap it - it will bring you to the 'today' screen showing all the appointment and task you have (maybe using zlauncher plugin and set it for a tab)

[halamjin]

Date Of Arrival? - it wont be so much determine by me

y? coz i'm offering this to anyone who is willing to get it done, i have been palm'less for few years, i could not test it properly, i would rather design the skin and have some other to package it using a theme maker

this way i can design new skins a lot faster and not being bog down by the process of packaging it

anyone up for the offer?

[_Em]

Should be able to write it as a stand-alone launcher; AppShelf can come close to that as well. iSpin and ZLauncher should even be able to do something similar with a bit of cajoling.

Personally, I think it'd make a great AppShelf skin.

[halamjin]

can somebody help me by providing a screenshot of the "today" tab with only the zlauncher today plugin on a white background

[halamjin]

Personally, I think it'd make a great AppShelf skin.

i'll release the graphics if u wanna port it to AppShelf... never use it before, so i won't know will it be the same

[halamjin]

updates...

here is the new home screen and the today screen... now trying to come with the all apps screen

... all apps screen added

[sopgent7]

Man that would be a dream to be able to set a transparency to icons, either if zztechs would think about including it in the next ver, or someone make a program that would let you use opacity to icons in the default laucher or ZL or whatever launcher you use..I tried that with the Aero theme in vista, the only thing I could do was take it in Photoshop and create the theme and then drag various backgrounds behind it..heres one i use with ZLauncher..

[halamjin]

Man that would be a dream to be able to set a transparency to icons

sorry i don't quite understand, are you talking about the icons itself being transparent or the background of the icons being transparent?

you can still do both but like i said - sacrifice user customability, preset placement of the icons in the background image... then make a blank (empty) icon image for the icon and put it directly on the icon in the backimage (who wants a theme with little ability to customize it? well, you cannot change the home screen of the iphone, can you, yet you still want it)

[plantboy12]

That is a really nice looking thing. One of the best I've seen. If you need testing, I would be willing to help (T|T2 + Z22). I know I would be willing to give up some functionality for a look like that. In my personal opinion, it would be good in appshelf or on its own, but then- i never really liked Zlauncher that much.

[sopgent7]

sorry i don't quite understand, are you talking about the icons itself being transparent or the background of the icons being transparent?

you can still do both but like i said - sacrifice user customability, preset placement of the icons in the background image... then make a blank (empty) icon image for the icon and put it directly on the icon in the backimage (who wants a theme with little ability to customize it? well, you cannot change the home screen of the iphone, can you, yet you still want it)

First to answer your question, I was talking about having that feature on Palm OS (Zlauncher)

Yea of course you can make it seem like transparency is being used, with a little photoshop, but the background has to be a plain solid color..:( but I want to use landscape backgrounds and that would take forever to tweak, which would would lose interest..I once tried it with that one above and didnt use transparency for the white background (the square) and kept it all white and just made the icons faded with opacity..

Idea: it is possible and it will take time (Trial and Error).., if you use the settings in Tab/Tab Properties/Icon and place a README!! with your defined settings with the theme and icons it would be possible, the only downfall is that you cant scroll with the arrows on the scroll bar..you can only scroll with the navigator...

[ElectroPunk68]

that would be awesome...im starting to drool haha

[halamjin]

i'm abandoning the old design... i don't think its great enough

i've come up with a new design - this time for appshelf... seems to be more suitable for the skin

here is the new design concept... what do you guys think?

[sopgent7]

Im not going to lie to you, I like the first one way better :D

[halamjin]

only one comment for the new design... hmmm.....

anyway... i've updated the skin concept... how about this one?

[halamjin]

check this out.... what do you think?

[Burdie]

Sorry halamjin, I'm with sopgent7 - the old/first design looked really excellent - much better IMHO.

Burdie

[plantboy12]

I've gotta go with what Burdie said. I like the old design better. The new one seems, well, a little messier.

[dragonsgames]

Yeah, the old one looked a lot better. :)

[Ambassador]

Say Halamjin... what ever happened to the Palm operating system you were working on? I remember long ago you were embarking on programming a new Palm OS. Did ya toss it?

[jamby]

i'm a great fan of your plass skin..i really hope this could be a reality in the very near future..

keep it up!!!!

[edisong]

I'm liking it alot. Any ETA when it will be released.

[IonTruO2]

halamjin: Great ideas, kudos to you.
I'm with you on the form factor and the orderly simplicity.
Tough choice between the two image ideas you have presented. :)
My first impulse was I liked the first one better, yet I admire your notions with the second one too.
Perhaps that is the value of something like Zlauncher in that it could be tweaked and worked to create this 'look'? I'm not a great fan of the i-phone's look, but I would like to get to where I could break out of the standard Zlauncher button/tool/tabs placements.
Well gotta go 'plass.ter' my new TX. ;)

[Demonstar]

halajim; I glad to see you're back to doing a little skinning. I like your second design on this theme; but I too perfer your first concept.