Adding Contacts as Icons
June 5, 2009 by Lemon · Leave a Comment
Sorry it’s taken so long to answer this one.
A few people have asked how to add contacts as icons in a tray. I’m away from my laptop for a day so I’ll just have to talk you through this one without screenshots:
- Long press in an action tray
- Select “Shortcut”
- Scroll down the list to “Contact” and select
- Scroll through your list of contacts and select the person you’d like to add
- ???
- Profit!
You do have to do this for every contact you wish to add as an icon so it can be a slow process unfortunately. Maybe a good one for the train or bus!
Running Sweeter Home Preview 1 on Cupcake
June 1, 2009 by Lemon · 3 Comments
UPDATE: This post contains information about Sweeter Home Preview 1 which has now been superseded by Sweeter Home 2. Some information in this post may be outdated or inaccurate for use with Sweeter Home 2.
If you’re running Sweeter Home Preview 1 (0.24) – which is the latest version and you should be running it – and you’ve received and/or installed Cupcake (Android 1.5), then here some tips for you:
- In your native home screen remove all widgets. Sweeter Home is an app and due to the true multitasking nature of Android you may be running multiple homes at one time. I’ve often seen widgets running even though I’m in Sweeter Home (Applications > Manage Applications > Menu > Filter > Running). So remove the widgets, restart your phone, and home into Sweeter Home.
- If you’re using images in your theme you may have experienced force closes when adding them to your layout. Here’s the actions I take to get them in without much fuss
- Menu > New > Image then Menu > Edit
- Change the layer – you can change it again later but Sweeter seems to crash less taking this step
- Set imode to centre – again, you can change it later
- Now hit imageConf
- Change imageType to device as normal
- Hit Choose image – Let your thumbnails FULLY load
- Once your image is selected hit Close then Close again
- Now your image is sucessfully added to the layout you can change the layer and imode as you wish. Only a few extra steps to avoid those force closes will save you a lot of frustration
- Theme your Landscape formats! If you haven’t been doing this (I haven’t with all my graphic themes so far since it kills a) memory and b) my time) then you’ll notice why you need to. Because Sweeter Home is an app it will autorotate when you turn your phone on it’s side. This didn’t happen as much in Android 1.1 so when you’re able, take the time to fully skin your themes (I will too, don’t worry).
- Use the on screen keyboard when editing values – most of the time it’s quicker!
- Keep your Home Replacement apps to a minimum. Most feedback indicates that the more home apps you have the slower your system responds. Not using one? Uninstall it for now while you’re using a different Home.
Any questions about running Sweeter Home on Android 1.5 just let me know.
(Obligatory disclaimer: I’m not the Sweeter Home developer, just a fan!) 
Working with images
UPDATE: This post contains information about Sweeter Home Preview 1 which has now been superseded by Sweeter Home 2. Some information in this post may be outdated or inaccurate for use with Sweeter Home 2.
One of the biggest differences between Sweeter Home and other home replacements is the ability to use images in your layouts. The images sit above the wallpaper with the rest of your content and swipe above the wallpaper as you move between left, right and middle screens. Rather than just dropping square images into your layouts (like a picture of your mum… not that there’s anything wrong with that…) using transparent PNG images can make for some rich looking environments in your home screen.
The video that showed people the potential of Sweeter Home when it comes to images was my Matricks demo. That was a pretty corny look at images – and they were pretty big too, not ideal for keeping your theme light weight and snappy – but it was a good indicator of what you can get up to with some imagination and Photoshop (or The GIMP). You can search the almighty Google if you need help creating images with transparent backgrounds in Photoshop and The GIMP. Below I’ll show you how to insert and use images in your layouts.
If you’re creating an image from scratch to use in your layout I recommend using my image templates. They’ll help you save your image to the actual grid sizes used in Sweeter Home. I always use TILE as my image setting to stop any scaling and display the image just as I saved it, so the templates help to position the image exactly.
In this example I’ll step through inserting my Thrillho menu into an empty screen. You can grab the image here, drop it onto your SD card and play along.
Enter Edit Layout mode, hit the menu button again and select new, then Image. The default image is now a small version of your wallpaper, so let’s hit menu and edit. In the first edit screen we’re going to change the imode to ‘TILE’ and let’s drop the layer back to 1 since later we’ll want to drop invisible icons above it.
Now we need to select the actual image from your SD card. Hit the button that reads ‘configure’. Here’s where we select the image you want to use. Change the imageType to ‘DEVICE’. Then hit the ‘Choose Image’ button. From the image list select the Thrillho menu.
Close and then close again. Now we’re back on your home screen with the Menu partially showing. Simply drag it to size and exit the layout mode.
As above, using the TILE setting keeps your images as you saved them, without scaling, but there are several options where you can fill or centre an image too, which may be useful for photo style graphics but probably not text. It also means you can’t position your graphic exactly but if you’re not using the graphic to launch apps or trays that’s probably not a big deal.
Lastly, in the current version of Sweeter Home (Preview 1) images do not save as part of your .sly file, so if you want to share your theme and have the image included you’ll need to have the image online somewhere (and hotlinkable I believe). Photobucket is a good sharing site that allows hotlinking but if you have your own filespace that will work fine too. To load an image from the net edit the image, ‘configure’, set the imageType to ‘INTERNET’, then click ‘Configure’ on the internetImage setting (the placing of this is a little corky so check the screen shots below). Type the URL location to your image and then close out to your homescreen. It’s important you get the URL exactly right so be sure to type it carefully.
So there you have the basics of using images in Sweeter Home. It seems a little complicated but once you’ve done it once or twice it’ll open a world of design possibilities to you. Remember that the processor in your phone is not as grunty as your home computer. Be aware of memory issues – crop your images accurately and try and keep the file size down. Most importantly, be creative and have fun!
Navigation dots
May 5, 2009 by Lemon · Leave a Comment
Feel free to use these navigation images. They serve no interactive purpose (although might be good navigation launchers for possible springboard navigation functionality in future) but look pretty nice on each page of your theme. Simply size the images (remember to set to TILE) and set them on a layer above your wallpaper. Enjoy!
Asket Dock Pack
May 2, 2009 by Lemon · Leave a Comment
I made these docks for the theme I’m working on at the moment. If you want to make your own dock style images remember to check out my image templates for Sweeter Home.
These images are made to work with your images set to TILE. They should work without tweaking for vertical docks, but for horizontal docks you may need to drop the internal padding on the icons a little.
Exact full screen image
April 26, 2009 by Lemon · Leave a Comment
UPDATE: This post contains information about Sweeter Home Preview 1 which has now been superseded by Sweeter Home 2. Some information in this post may be outdated or inaccurate for use with Sweeter Home 2.
Updated PSD grid guides can be downloaded here.
If you’ve been playing with the tray functions and layout in Sweeter Home you may be ready to start designing images to use as parts of your themes. Images sit on layers above the wallpaper and move across the wallpaper as you scroll between screens, like other content in Sweeter Home. Using images with invisible icons (which I’ll show you how to do later this week) means your layouts are limited only by your imagination… and possibly access to a program like Photoshop.
To help you out as you play with images I’ve uploaded two files for you below – the exact visible screen size (not including the notification bar) overlaid with the Sweeter Home grid sizes which layout trays snap to. It’s important to note that home screens are broken into a 16×16 grid for both portrait and landscape views. Due to the notification bar the usable screen sizes are slightly different in each view, meaning the grid sizes are different too.
If you use these templates to create full size images for your theme, remember to set your image in Sweeter Home to the following: iMode: TILE; imageType: DEVICE (or internet as applicable).
Click the images for full size.
PORTRAIT
SCREEN: 320px(w) x 455px(h)
GRID: 20px(w) x 28.4375px(h)
LANDSCAPE
SCREEN: 480px(w) x 295px(h)
GRID: 30px(w) x 18.4375px(h)
Here’s an example of my Thrillho menu sitting on top of the grid template to show you how it works:
Installing a theme in Sweeter Home (TUTORIAL)
April 24, 2009 by Lemon · 2 Comments
UPDATE: This post contains information about Sweeter Home Preview 1 which has now been superseded by Sweeter Home 2. Some information in this post may be outdated or inaccurate for use with Sweeter Home 2.
OK, so you’ve installed Sweeter Home but you’re not sure how to install new themes! Below we’ll take a look at loading built in themes as well as downloading theme’s from the internet (or getting one from a friend) and loading it from your SD card.
When you launch Sweeter Home for the first time the help theme will load (below). Swipe between screens and jump from portrait to landscape (open the keyboard) to read more from the developer.
To load another built in theme hit the menu button on your G1 and select Themes. From the included list of build in themes let’s choose Caramel. Wait for it to load and there it is!
So loading the built in themes is nice and easy, but what about loading a theme from your SD card? We’ll assume you can figure out how to modify an existing built in theme and save it to your SD card, then load that, so let’s walk through downloading Dark Rising from this site and install it in Sweeter Home.
First, on your computer (not on your G1) visit the page for the latest Dark Rising theme. Click on “download” and save the zip to somewhere convenient on your computer. UNZIP the file and have a look in the included folder. You’ll find a wallpaper, a readme file (hint: read it!), and a .sly file, which is the file type for Sweeter Home themes. Connect your G1 to your computer via USB and mount the G1. On your computer explore the SD card and locate SD/sweeterhome. That where we want to drag the .sly file for Dark Rising. See the screen shots below!
Next, on your computer un-mount your G1 and disconnect the USB cable. You now have the Dark Rising theme in the sweeterhome directory on your SD card, ready to install!
Back on your G1 and in Sweeter Home, hit the menu button and select Themes. Hit the menu button again and select SD Card. A list of all files in the sweeterhome directory on your SD will appear. Select Dark Rising 2.1.sly from the list and wait…
Congratulations! You just downloaded Dark Rising from the internet, unzipped it, dragged the .sly file to your SD card, and installed it in Sweeter Home. Enjoy!!
How to install Sweeter Home (TUTORIAL)
April 24, 2009 by Lemon · 5 Comments
UPDATE: This post contains information about Sweeter Home Preview 1 which has now been superseded by Sweeter Home 2. Some information in this post may be outdated or inaccurate for use with Sweeter Home 2.
The two questions I seem to get asked most is how to install Sweeter Home and how to download and install a shared theme, so we’ll tackle these in two basic tutorials for the people that are just getting started.
If you’re running RC33 of Android on a standard G1 you should have no problem finding Sweeter Home in the Android Market. Open the Market app, hit search, and typing “Sweeter” should be enough to get you there.
If you can’t find Sweeter Home in the Market you can always go here on your computer and use this method to install on your Android phone.
Once installed there is no need to launch the app (although if you do you’ll find some handy instructions). To launch into Sweeter Home just hit the home button on your G1 and you’ll see the following screen. For the time being don’t use by default, but once you’re comfortable that you want to use Sweeter as you’re default home then go for it!
Congratulations, you’re now running Sweeter Home!
NOTE: if you have an ADP G1, or any non RC33 ROM flashed onto your G1 you may have trouble finding Sweeter Home, or you may not be able to find it at all. Although Sweeter Home is currently a free app it was designed with copy-protection included. In trying to remove the copy protection the developer found this actually broke all existing themes due to a database bug in Android, so if you can’t get hold of Sweeter Home you may just have to wait until the full version is launched, or hope that Android 1.5 fixes the db problem. (Or you could try this, but it may very well be an old build).
Great video demo on Androinica
Well it looks like enough time has passed. More people are starting to share their themes! There’s a great video post over at Androinica where Andrew shows the Watchmen theme he’s been working with. He also showcases as EXCELLENT workaround you can use if you don’t like the current default springboard icons. Simply set an image as a button on the layer above the springboard icon and cover it up! Great work, Andrew. The Comedian screen with SMSs at the bottom is a slick piece of design!
View his full post here.
Let’s add a springboard tray (Tips & tricks)
April 1, 2009 by Lemon · 3 Comments
- Always edit and rename EVERY new Action Tray you add to a layout, title and trayName.
- The “Title” of your target Action tray is what will show under your springboard icon, name it well and capitalise!
- Copy/Paste is your friend. When editing an object in layout mode you can copy/paste almost any configuration – iconStyle, shape, gradient and frame are your most common edits
Use Dark Rising 2.0 and follow along with the video!
Questions? Help? Ask away.