Patch Request: Make the launcher be the background (like an iPhone)

[lacycazarez]

It would be nice instead of having a wallpaper in the background the background shows the launcher instead.

[ryleyinstl]

Originally Posted by lacycazarez

Patch for NO WALLPAPER

You could just create a background that is all one color.

[TIWizard]

Originally Posted by ryleyinstl

You could just create a background that is all one color.

He wants the launcher as his background (think iPhone)

[ryleyinstl]

Oh hell, how did I miss that!?

[StoneRyno]

I believe this can be done sort of. The launcher has a function in it which by default is called so that it isn't visible all the time. In other words it is used so that webOS functions as it does now allowing you to bring up the launcher and also so webOS can do the universal search thing. Anyways it may be possible to edit the launcher code to by default have the laucher visible on boot. However I'm not certain if it will remain up by default. So using universal search or gesturing will still work how it does now. I have to look at the code again and report back.

[milominderbinder]

Originally Posted by StoneRyno

I believe this can be done sort of. The launcher has a function in it which by default is called so that it isn't visible all the time. In other words it is used so that webOS functions as it does now allowing you to bring up the launcher and also so webOS can do the universal search thing. Anyways it may be possible to edit the launcher code to by default have the laucher visible on boot. However I'm not certain if it will remain up by default. So using universal search or gesturing will still work how it does now. I have to look at the code again and report back.

Thank you!

I think that this would be a hugly popular patch, probably number 1.

We gain nothing by turning on the phone to a wallpaper. The first thing you do is hit a launcher bar icon or the launcher icon itself. Why not already have the launcher come right up.

BTW - Changed the thread title to match the thread contents.

- Craig

[Abyssul]

Originally Posted by Milominderbinder

Thank you!

I think that this would be a hugly popular patch, probably number 1.

We gain nothing by turning on the phone to a wallpaper. The first thing you do is hit a launcher bar icon or the launcher icon itself. Why not already have the launcher come right up.

BTW - Changed the thread title to match the thread contents.

- Craig

Because I like a clean Home page. You can say our home screen is similar to Androids without the widgets.

[Church Punk]

Besides, the whole point of this new OS is to have the multitasking cards on that screen and not on your launcher screen. Imagine the cards floating with launcher icons... How would you turn a page without sliding the current card?

this patch seems to me more like going back to PalmOS rather than iphone like...

[thekarens]

I personally would vote "No". I prefer a clean screen, but for those who would enjoy it, go for it!

[abel_s]

i'm pretty sure they ran into this issue when they made WebOS... how to seamlessly have cards on the main screen and the launcher.

[StoneRyno]

Well I changed what I thought would allow the launcher to show all the time however it didn't appear to do anything. However based on dev comment in the file they may have moved launcher show and hide stuff deeper perhaps somewhere in the framework. So I'm not really sure where to look to see if we can even control this. I thought I'd look for the function called when tapping the launcher icon in the quick launch but I don't know where that code is either. I think I will need help from people who know more than I do to help figure this one out if it is possible. I may be that there is a luna call being made somewhere that we can call or something. Anyone have any ideas?

[milominderbinder]

Could another way to do this be to make the Launcher default to ON when you turn on the phone?

Right now the Launcher defaults to OFF unless you tap the Launcher button.

Could the Launcher default be ON instead?

Here is how I see this working...

When you turn on the phone, the Launcher would come up automatically.

Back in the old dos days you would do a little batch file to run a certain program on boot up. In this case you would want to run the Launcher every time the phone is turned on.

What do you think?

It is not quite what the iPhone is able to do but it is a world better.

Palm assumes that when you turn on your phone and no app was left running, the reason you turned it on was just to look at their pretty flower wallpaper.

I think Palm is completely wrong on this.

I think that most people turn on their phone to do something.

So what about it smart patch developers?

- Craig

[Abyssul]

It's very tricky to implement something like this for the WebOS card system. It would just be best to have the launcher open when you turn on the phone, but to have it as the background wouldn't work.

[tarirene]

Originally Posted by milominderbinder

Palm assumes that when you turn on your phone and no app was left running, the reason you turned it on was just to look at their pretty flower wallpaper.

I think Palm is completely wrong on this.

Haha, not completely, it's just a matter of tastes. My favorite part of turning my phone on is looking at the pretty flower. :-)

[milominderbinder]

Originally Posted by Abyssul

It's very tricky to implement something like this for the WebOS card system. It would just be best to have the launcher open when you turn on the phone, but to have it as the background wouldn't work.

I don't think that hte active wallpaper is really going to work. It would have to be an app always running I think.

What do you think of the idea above to automatically run the Launcher when you turn the display on unless you already have apps running. So if it were just going to show the wallpaer when the display turns on, run the Launcher. If I had an app runing, don't.

I see the logic as:

IF(Display turning ON .AND. No other apps running)
- - - THEN run Launcher

What do you think?

- Craig

[knickrox13]

Originally Posted by milominderbinder

I don't think that hte active wallpaper is really going to work. It would have to be an app always running I think.

What do you think of the idea above to automatically run the Launcher when you turn the display on unless you already have apps running. So if it were just going to show the wallpaer when the display turns on, run the Launcher. If I had an app runing, don't.

I see the logic as:

IF(Display turning ON .AND. No other apps running)
- - - THEN run Launcher

What do you think?

- Craig

I think that sounds awesome.

[patricksmangan]

good idea, i might use that if its developed. here is another idea if you guys havnt read it already (though it does seem harder to do)

[fritos1406]

ive tried something like this earlier..it really is hard
because if the launcher is always opened then it be impossible to go to the cards..
meaning you wont be able to do anything else but launch apps.
need to look more into a way so that the launcher closes when an app is pulled up and reopens when ur cards are gone..i think its imposible as of now
that is because the launcher runs in the foreground not the background

[abhinandanjain]

While the launcher idea seems good, I'd rather have one or two widgets running on top of the background pic (maybe at the top and bottom so that when in card view they don't interfere with swiping around)

Probably like the N97 widgets (standardized to certain pixels), except that they'd be only 1-2 (at top and bottom)

[IMGrant]

WebOS is still in its infancy, perhaps future plans will include widgets for the home screen (fingers crossed!). In the meantime, I'm hoping Weatherman will be released for the UK/Europe.