palm pre and widgets?

[runawayq]

is this a possibility? I know you can keep cards open but widgets like the hero would be awesome!

[cowkong]

How much I would love that too, however, the whole OS would need an overhaul to add them. Don't expect any soon.

[sketch42]

the entire webos is built on cards / mutiltasking.. Widgets , imho , is illigitamate chilc of multi tasking.. Still cute but can it really grow properly the way it is?


just like the wise peter griffin hath stated "Math my dear boy, is nothing more than the lesbian sister of biology." --Peter Griffin.

[nyquistJack]

There have been a lot of in depth discussions on the forums about such things. It is my opinion that a widget card, like Active Home Screen is trying to be, is the right way to go. The thing that is missing is a quick way to bring that specific card up. If the following things were implemented, we could use widget cards which would feel as integrated as they do in android but be maintain the card scheme.

1) Have the center button, either via single, double or long hold, bring up a designated card, in this case the widget card.

2) Have an option of "on unlock, bring application X to full screen"

3) Be able to "lock" a card so that it prompts you before being closed, to help save ourselves from when we get swipe happy

4) This is minor, but the ability to auto launch a card on startup.

I think with those things implemented, none of which should be terribly difficult, we could have widget cards that are nice for quick reference of things but not screw up the flow of the webos.

[sketch42]

Originally Posted by nyquistJack

There have been a lot of in depth discussions on the forums about such things. It is my opinion that a widget card, like Active Home Screen is trying to be, is the right way to go. The thing that is missing is a quick way to bring that specific card up. If the following things were implemented, we could use widget cards which would feel as integrated as they do in android but be maintain the card scheme.

1) Have the center button, either via single, double or long hold, bring up a designated card, in this case the widget card.

2) Have an option of "on unlock, bring application X to full screen"

3) Be able to "lock" a card so that it prompts you before being closed, to help save ourselves from when we get swipe happy

4) This is minor, but the ability to auto launch a card on startup.

I think with those things implemented, none of which should be terribly difficult, we could have widget cards that are nice for quick reference of things but not screw up the flow of the webos.

this wont happen ... at least the way you want it to thats for sure.. this is a major update to webos if they did it, and to pick the only phone in their entire lineup that has the button is less than wishful thinking

[nyquistJack]

if by a major update you mean v2.0 then I agree. While I'd love to see something like this near term it's a full version number sort of update. The button isn't important, any type of advanced gesture will do. Two finger version of gesture to screen for example. From what I understand the other phones have a button area anyway that operates the same way. I think the reasoning I mentioned matches the overall webos feel while adding a nice feature from android. Not to mention those features would be useful for other purposes.

[Shadavis08]

Originally Posted by runawayq

is this a possibility? I know you can keep cards open but widgets like the hero would be awesome!

just get a hero lol

[063_xobx]

widgets are really a step back when you could just leave any cards running

[nyquistJack]

Originally Posted by 063_xobx

widgets are really a step back when you could just leave any cards running

Maybe what I am thinking is more like a homescreen. Personally I like being able see a few pieces of key info and a few key shortcuts in one place. Windows can multitask but it has desktop widgets that are a single button press or slide of a mouse away. In a single glance I see my calendar agenda, weather and latest tweets.

I don't think it's crucial to have this functionality but I think it'd be nice for those that would like it.

[sketch42]

maybe its just me , since i tried active home screen and every other attempt to have a live home screen , have all failed miserably, IMHO. but i do like the idea of being able to have a app that has the capability to replace the default launcher/home screen, like the old palm os . There where so many choices it was great.

[psvillars]

i'd to see widgets maybe that run on the background underneath the cards so they're visible when the cards aren't in view for things like weather and sports scores that type of thing that would be cool, i'd love to be able to check the scores on the game at work just by looking at the phone as opposed to keeping a card open.

[Bujin]

I think the implementation of the Weather Dashboard is pretty interesting: a "widget" in the notification area, that can be read or minimized, or swiped off when you want the screen real estate. I would love to see a couple of other similar apps.

[runawayq]

My GF has a hero and its a very nice phone. widgets are really the only thing I would like to take away from it. of course keeping cards open is a way to over come this but you have to flick through the cards find the one you want then click on it and wait for it to update which would only take a few seconds I know but, I like the way the hero displays the info in widgets. Wouldnt trade my pre for it though! the multi tasking isn't nearly as good. Theres just a couple cards I keep open like weather and facebook and would be nice if they could all be on my "home screen".

For some reason I thought the open cards could just be implemented in the UI somehow with out a major update.

[SUCCESSOR]

I know this is an old thread but I honestly wanted to know how widgets would interfere with the flow of webos. IMHO the home screen on the Pre is wasted space and desperately needs widgets. Clocks, Weather, Calendar, Tasks, etc. It would be truly awesome if Palm got inventive an made the homescreen widgetable on-the-fly so that at certain times you want to keep track of certain things(Sports score) other than your normal stuff(Calendar & Tasks) you can throw away widgets like cards and bring in new one with a couple clicks and gestures.

[Sk3lleton]

What about apps like clearcard? When minimixed, it shows the date and/or time. Running active minimized cards means it is technically possible.

[rdtmk]

My idea for widgets in webOS goes like this...

In card view, if you hold your finger down on any card it will shrink and then allow you to move it around the screen and when you release your finger it goes to the zoomed out card view.

What if when you release your finger you got an option to "paste" the card onto the desktop wherever you want effectively making that card a widget on your homescreen. Even make it clickable so that you could jump into the full app screen. This wouldn't work for every app because its so zoomed out but for something like a simple calendar or a weather app where they could make the text really large it could work. Or they could make the apps tailor what they display to this "widget" mode.

[LCGuy]

Actually, this CAN be done:

Make the background image the widget - instead of a static image, why not have the background become the weathebrug (or stock tracker, or calculator, or unit converter, etc.... ) widget, which can be hot swapped with any other "widget" (or application) on the fly via a software toggle inside the background widget itself?

[rdtmk]

Originally Posted by LCGuy

Actually, this CAN be done:

Make the background image the widget - instead of a static image, why not have the background become the weathebrug (or stock tracker, or calculator, or unit converter, etc.... ) widget, which can be hot swapped with any other "widget" (or application) on the fly via a software toggle inside the background widget itself?

they already have this. There is an app that lets you choose weather, news, twitter, etc on your homescreen wallpaper but it doesn't really fit aesthetically. I'd like to see the same thing but with better icons and better implementation.