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Hey guys,
I've had my Nexus for just over a month now and apart from a few minor issues I'm really enjoying my experience with my Nexus.
BUT: One thing that really p*sses me off is the total waste of screen real estate being the "on screen buttons". I can sort of understand the device having as few as possible buttons is pretty cool but when it starts invading your screen size that is NOT COOL.
I have a few questions for google: Why oh why did you make the background for the navigation buttons black?? Why not transparent? Or transparent with a blur effect? Personally I would prefer just transparent with faint white back, home and app switcher buttons. It would make more of the screen available to see.
If I were to root my device, are these things that i could schange in the System or Framework RES folders? Or would it be much more complicated than that (i.e. changing color hex's in .xml files?)?
Search for how to enable the tablet UI. I had to enlarge the font to make things a bit more comfortable for me, but I really do like the true tablet UI.
sikodemon said:
Hey guys,
I've had my Nexus for just over a month now and apart from a few minor issues I'm really enjoying my experience with my Nexus.
BUT: One thing that really p*sses me off is the total waste of screen real estate being the "on screen buttons". I can sort of understand the device having as few as possible buttons is pretty cool but when it starts invading your screen size that is NOT COOL.
I have a few questions for google: Why oh why did you make the background for the navigation buttons black?? Why not transparent? Or transparent with a blur effect? Personally I would prefer just transparent with faint white back, home and app switcher buttons. It would make more of the screen available to see.
If I were to root my device, are these things that i could schange in the System or Framework RES folders? Or would it be much more complicated than that (i.e. changing color hex's in .xml files?)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can make it smaller.
Here's a guide.http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1844878
Beamed from my Grouper
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
sikodemon said:
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
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Click to collapse
Maybe it was carried over from the gnex.
It's black on the gnex to take advantage of the AMOLED screen.
Beamed from Maguro
Hi
sikodemon said:
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Presumably it is because it is dead space. Applications don't/can't expand into that area as it is protected. For example if you had an application open to the maximum behind translucent soft buttons, and that application required you to press something towards its bottom edge, you can't as it is now behind the menu buttons.
Ideally the buttons would be below the display and printed onto the touch screen as they are with my HTC One X, presumably they are not for either cost reasons or flexibility of the design.
Regards
Phil
sikodemon said:
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd guess that it doesn't make sense for it to be transparent because there is nothing under the navbar. Its a part of the screen that is separate from the application, if you allowed the navbar to be imposed over the application and transparent then the bottom part of the screen would be unusable in the application because touching it would activate the navbar buttons rather than the applications.
That said on the launcher it would be easy to just extend the wallpaper over the navbar and make it transparent and in apps you could colour the navbar with the average colour of the application background etc, though of course Apple has a patent waiting for that http://www.phonearena.com/news/Appl...xed-video_id34472?ratelimit=-10&sort=threaded
Not true because you can hide the nav bar on certain roms and that space it was using up is definitely usable. Hey OP I forgot what it's called but there's a launcher somewhere based on nothing but gestures so you don't even need a nav bar and you can use that extra screen space you seem to desperately need.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
sikodemon said:
Hey guys,
I've had my Nexus for just over a month now and apart from a few minor issues I'm really enjoying my experience with my Nexus.
BUT: One thing that really p*sses me off is the total waste of screen real estate being the "on screen buttons". I can sort of understand the device having as few as possible buttons is pretty cool but when it starts invading your screen size that is NOT COOL.
I have a few questions for google: Why oh why did you make the background for the navigation buttons black?? Why not transparent? Or transparent with a blur effect? Personally I would prefer just transparent with faint white back, home and app switcher buttons. It would make more of the screen available to see.
If I were to root my device, are these things that i could schange in the System or Framework RES folders? Or would it be much more complicated than that (i.e. changing color hex's in .xml files?)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agreed with you. Is there anyone that can port Motorola's Transparent Software Buttons, so it will be better?
slick_rick said:
Not true because you can hide the nav bar on certain roms and that space it was using up is definitely usable. Hey OP I forgot what it's called but there's a launcher somewhere based on nothing but gestures so you don't even need a nav bar and you can use that extra screen space you seem to desperately need.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're both right and wrong. The launcher you're thinking of is probably the PIE launcher available on many custom ROMs, as well as its app equivalent (which I believe is called LMT). But your reasoning as far as hiding the navbar is incorrect. If you hide the navbar on a ROM (or even the way it's done in many games and the YouTube app), the navbar disappears, i.e. it's no longer protecting the screen space that it's not using. Making it transparent would do no such thing, and even if you forced an app to use the space beneath the navbar, you'd wind up with three floating navigation items that would probably conflict with an app's bottom navigation.
Pegasus195 said:
I agreed with you. Is there anyone that can port Motorola's Transparent Software Buttons, so it will be better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to look into custom ROMs, some will allow you to mess around with your navbar icons/actions (the main one I like is the replace Recent Apps with a Last App switcher). Paranoid Android also allows you to change the color (and I believe that includes alpha transparency), including a "chameleon"-style bar that changes color based on the active app's predominant scheme.
Also, to respond to something from earlier: black is better because as a static color, it uses less resources to draw and has the benefit of being power-efficient on AMOLED screens. In addition, while it might look neat, it's pretty well accepted in UI/UX lore that you should keep navigational elements as clearly and visually distinct as possible to make them easier to hit. Shoving white/grey buttons on top of an active-blurred background can create quite a headache.
There's a great example of this in the screenshots of Apple's control center for iOS 7. For some backgrounds, the control center is clearly visible despite the background bleeding through, but on others, you basically can't read the buttons because the blur is too distracting.
I know this is a hot topic and there may be other threads on this, but hear me out for a second...
This is a cleaner version of a thought I had posted in a WP7 I started a while back (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1925656), influenced by news that MSFT is planning to add a notification centre to the joy of many - i rather they added more functionality to the lockscreen but to each his own. After more thoughts, I figured it was more appropriate to give this its own thread an post it here.
Here's what I'd do as an option for a notification centre while maintaining the OS look and not going the Android/iOS route:
1. Use the solid bar when a more than one type of notification comes in to maintain the minimalistic UI look. Use the following statement to be shown in the bar: "you have x notifications".
- Color code this bar to a shade of color that couls be specific to the app. If Twitter is purple, you would see a purple bar if there is one tweet waiting, but once there is more than one unread tweet or other another unread notification comes in, the color of the bar can either:
a) Shifts to the standard accent color for the whole UI chosen by the user.
b) Retain the color associated with the original app
2. Allow swipes to remove that notification bar. This means:
a) The only ways to access the notifications are:
- swipe left once from the home screen
- swipe twice if starting from the applications list
- double tap the special notification icon on the lockscreen (more on double tapping below)
b) the bar would be permanently removed from the top of the lockscreen. This avoids making the lockscreen look too “cluttered” or “busy”.
3. Use a special icon for the notification bar. This will be visible both in the notification bar itself AND on the lock screen. This means MSFT keeps the up to 5 icons limit and the double tapping on the 6th icon (the notification) allows transitions that open the notifications hub.
4. Double tap on ANY notification icon to open the the associated app itself from the lockscreen. If you've got dual cores, let them work via pretty transitions! Also, double tap reduces accidental press from single tap.
5. Have the following options in settings called Notifications:
- Allow the user to decide how long they want that solid notification bar to be visible on the home screen and app list screen in the same way you have the screen blackouts after inactivity. Conversely, MSFT could determine that for the user.
- Vibrate only, LED flash only or LED and Vibrate after "x amount of time for x number of times" to remind user of notifications. This allows OEMs to build LEDs if they want to take advantage and add to differentiation. Or, MSFT could just standardize the vibrations and LED flashes without taking away the OEM option to build the LED into the handset.
Either way, this ties into the option of having the solid notification bar too above. For example, if the user feels the phone vibrate with the screen off, then they will see either the solid bar or notification icon on lockscreen. If they were on a call or in an app the vibration would help them exist and thus seeing the solid status bar.
- Level of detail: MSFT can either a number count for the notification of a preview of the notification. This should not be user determined in the settings. If preview is activated, and multiple notifications come from different people for the same app (i.e. texts or tweets from separate people) show name and number count.
- Give the user the option in settings to either use the different colors or choose the notifications to have the same accent color as the rest of the UI. Place this either under Notifications or Accent colors.
6. From the start screen, swiping left brings up a notification hub automatically as a standard action.
a) Give this simple hub look by giving each app with notification its own shade of a color separate from the chosen UI color. - This color would apply for single shade in the notification list here, as well as in the bar mentioned in point #1 above.
Or:
Instead of each app having its own shade, use group accent colors based on app types listed in the Windows Store. For example, one shade of yellow for social media apps, one shade for Navigation apps, etc.
b) split the notification hub in half: have a top part of the hub with the following icons: WiFi, Bluetooth, Tethering, Battery percent, Kids mode, and settings (this should not be user selected). Display each options as either:
- Tappable words and the same switches we see to activate/deactivate in the setting already, or
- Use some tappable icons + the switches.
c) Allow each tab (whether tappable word or icon) to open directly to its own specific option within the settings hub - that way you're not digging through extra menus.
d) make tapping the bar and or the notification icon open the transition window to come from the left.
7. When kid mode is active, if there are double taps on icons on lock screen let password prompt come up to access the notification first.
8. If you want the Notification hub to be a full fledge hub itself to make the ideas above seem less cluttered, it can be a three paned hub with the following:
- main start pane has recent notifications
- swipe left for the toggles to get to the following icons: WiFi, Bluetooth, Tethering, Battery percent, Kids mode, and settings.
- swipe right for similar apps relating to settings such as system information (this can be optional)
9. More lockscreen functionality: Double tap the name of the song playing to open the music app directly.
I wish I could do same screen shots for all the stuff I laid out, but I’m not that great with graphics like that…:crying:but I could post shots of existing apps that show the visuals to some of my ideas above.
WP8 could be the minimum requirement for some or all of these ideas. Some of these might be more customization options like Android and some MSFT could just user decide. Either way, it’s still in the same framework to allow that middle road of options WP offers to users in comparison to Android and iOS.
Thoughts?
Just license the Notification center from Nokia, specifically how it was used and implemented on the N9.
bmstrong said:
Just license the Notification center from Nokia, specifically how it was used and implemented on the N9.
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure how well that would go over...maybe MSFT doesn't want to use too lunch Nokia stuff at the expense of upsetting the other OEM partners...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
trappxl said:
I'm not sure how well that would go over...maybe MSFT doesn't want to use too lunch Nokia stuff at the expense of upsetting the other OEM partners...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I thought they pit elop there to run Nokia into the ground, then buy the company for pennies and use ALL their patents... why not start early with some navigation?
I'm not too bothered about notifications. It's a feature that started to annoy me with iOS, all the constant updates and screen coming on all of the time. I found my life to be a lot more productive since getting a Windows Phone. The only notifications you really need are messages and calls and they're both shown on the screen, it's not life or death if you miss what someone is saying on twitter.
ohgood said:
I thought they pit elop there to run Nokia into the ground, then buy the company for pennies and use ALL their patents... why not start early with some navigation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps...but because Nokia needs money other than the handouts from MSFT, they pushed the Lumia brand really hard when they jumped into WP. If you notice now, when people think of WP they first think of Nokia. MSFT doesn't want that, which is why they teamed up with the old partner HTC who was more than willing to back to its past tactic: make a phone with another company's brand name in the title - hence the WP8X by HTC. MSFT also used HTC like that because they have better pull with US carriers than Nokia right now, especially with VZW.
So people in the know (OG WP adopters) will lean more to Nokia...Nokia now powers the whole WP maps. It makes no sense for MSFT to license a notification centre from Nokia, and they would only run Nokia into the ground to buy it if Nokia's WP are the ONLY ones that sell. Nokia shouldn't allow that, even with Elop there, because they are one of the OG companies (Moto the other) and having a more controlling owner like MSFT might hurt both companies' brands...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
gilesjuk said:
I'm not too bothered about notifications. It's a feature that started to annoy me with iOS, all the constant updates and screen coming on all of the time. I found my life to be a lot more productive since getting a Windows Phone. The only notifications you really need are messages and calls and they're both shown on the screen, it's not life or death if you miss what someone is saying on twitter.
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Click to collapse
See, that's one of the beauties of the design of WP I like, and many others do. But there are folks who love the annoying notifications and their phone blowing up with all sorts of activity. This is why MSFT is compelled to add a notification centre to appeal to more folks and get the cross over adopters and new smartphone buyers who have friends with Android and iOS that are used to notifications. I could live with a notification centre in WP, but I think design wise they are in a fresh and unique place...perhaps a decentralized setup by adding more functionality to the live tiles, toast bar and lock screen is better than that all in one status bar notification...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
trappxl said:
See, that's one of the beauties of the design of WP I like, and many others do. But there are folks who love the annoying notifications and their phone blowing up with all sorts of activity. This is why MSFT is compelled to add a notification centre to appeal to more folks and get the cross over adopters and new smartphone buyers who have friends with Android and iOS that are used to notifications. I could live with a notification centre in WP, but I think design wise they are in a fresh and unique place...perhaps a decentralized setup by adding more functionality to the live tiles, toast bar and lock screen is better than that all in one status bar notification...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
that's a lot of words instead of :
" turn off notifications in app settings that don't matter"
you don't need a "hub" to do this if its implemented well inside each app.
ohgood said:
that's a lot of words instead of :
" turn off notifications in app settings that don't matter"
you don't need a "hub" to do this if its implemented well inside each app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. You're right...I've got a rambler's habit whenever I get the juices flowing talking technology...
I agree with that approach of simply improving the notifications in each app. I like not having a hub because I don't need to be notified of every little occurrence. But, since MSFT wants to make cash they will cave in an put a notification hub in. I'm not sure if they will give us the option to turn it off fully if they do.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
A swipe to the left of the main home screen for home screen and quick settings.. thats what i thoght of..
Hi,
I've installed Nova Launcher and it pretty much does the job converting the phone's look to KitKat on the Stock LG 4.2.2 ROM.
The only things Nova Launcher doesn't replace are the Notification Bar and the System Dialogs (like the Dialog that does Power Off). System Dialogs are an ugly white and grey, and they look surprisingly similar to Samsung's ugly ass UI, at least early versions of it.
So, does anyone know how to make the System Dialogs look more like KitKat, or at least, turn them dark from white?
Thanks in advance.
PS: I've used the Xpload framework and it really messed over my battery life, I'd like to do this using root if possible.
autom8r said:
Hi,
I've installed Nova Launcher and it pretty much does the job converting the phone's look to KitKat on the Stock LG 4.2.2 ROM.
The only things Nova Launcher doesn't replace are the Notification Bar and the System Dialogs (like the Dialog that does Power Off). System Dialogs are an ugly white and grey, and they look surprisingly similar to Samsung's ugly ass UI, at least early versions of it.
So, does anyone know how to make the System Dialogs look more like KitKat, or at least, turn them dark from white?
Thanks in advance.
PS: I've used the Xpload framework and it really messed over my battery life, I'd like to do this using root if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Decompile the framework invert all the toast images and a bunch more then find the XML that controls the text color you want and walla.. All done.
PS.. Odds are when you do this your going to inadvertently cause white on white or black on black. Best of luck
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
zathus said:
Decompile the framework invert all the toast images and a bunch more then find the XML that controls the text color you want and walla.. All done.
PS.. Odds are when you do this your going to inadvertently cause white on white or black on black. Best of luck
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about the last statement in the PS, white and black are easily distinguishable colors #FFFFFF vs #000000...
Anyway, is there any root level app that does this type of asset replacement?
Thanks!
autom8r said:
Not sure about the last statement in the PS, white and black are easily distinguishable colors #FFFFFF vs #000000...
Anyway, is there any root level app that does this type of asset replacement?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No what I ment was sometimes there tied to something else. Like you change the text for the toast popups to white, and in settings the text is also white. So, in settings its white on white. Just an example, and I don't think there is an app however I'd imagine there could be. Xposed or something. Toss in a request on the g2 xposed threads.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
zathus said:
No what I ment was sometimes there tied to something else. Like you change the text for the toast popups to white, and in settings the text is also white. So, in settings its white on white. Just an example, and I don't think there is an app however I'd imagine there could be. Xposed or something. Toss in a request on the g2 xposed threads.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Ah yes, I see what you're saying. Luckily though, I think this won't be the case because LG literally uses white on black and there's absolutely no dark backgrounds I could find in their UI whatsoever. The dialer is a dark grey, but I don't need to change the dialer, just system dialogs.
I am going down this road now, I am ripping apart the assets in the backend trying to find the key files to tweak and replace. Fun, I love this.
So as title says, how can i get transparent navigation bar system wide? Please do not offer pie controls or stuff like that, i just want navigation buttons on completely transparent background just like on home screen but system wide. Any ideas?
+1
I'd like this too, especially since I heard about burn-in on oled screens. But mostly I just like the way it looks on my home screen now.
Maybe there's a CMTE or layers theme that offers this?
No one knows? Doesnt sound like such a hard customisation, there are loads of navbar mods, but im yet to find one to do what i want
Yeah would love too see this myself. I'm not sure why Google doesn't have a way to do it as it would make Android look so much better then black bars.
Seems impossible for now, looked everywhere didnt find a solution
I have been looking for a while how to do this myself. It seems like something Google enforced to align the color shift from app to app. Which while is a neat take on style is not my preference. I would much rather have a consistent look and feel but to each there own.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I picked up an LG V20 recently, and am loving it. I see it lacks an LED notification light, instead relying on the second screen to show notifications when the screen is off. Apps like Textra let me theme the color of its notification, which makes it much easier to identify at a glance. Was wondering if anyone knew of a way to theme or replace (for example WhatsApp or Hangouts notification icons to be a different color. Thank you very much for any suggestions.
Kolpina said:
I picked up an LG V20 recently, and am loving it. I see it lacks an LED notification light, instead relying on the second screen to show notifications when the screen is off. Apps like Textra let me theme the color of its notification, which makes it much easier to identify at a glance. Was wondering if anyone knew of a way to theme or replace (for example WhatsApp or Hangouts notification icons to be a different color. Thank you very much for any suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still think it'd be great if there was a way to make the whole 2nd screen flash a solid color at maximum brightness a few times because yeah it grabs your attention more so than a static icon
I found this thread through a search. I am wondering the same thing as I evaluate a V20. The email notification icon on the Second Screen (I use the Stock email app) is very small. Is there any way to make this larger at minimum and best case, flash continuously like a notification LED which the phone otherwise lacks? Just making it the size of the other Second Screen app icons would be a big help. I would prefer not to try rooting/customizing as I am not confident in my skills and am concerned about bricking the unit.