Sweeter Home 2 Manual?

[grimloktt]

Wow...lots going on with SweeterHome2 home launcher. Anyone have a manual on how to edit the themes? LOTS you can do....I'm not sure if there's anything you can't do.

 

[Corinacakes]

unfortunately there is no manual. there are a few videos on their site though. if you get stuck or have some questions feel free to add me to gtalk (addy in my sig) and i'll help. i'm at work right now so if i don't answer....i'm busy.

 

[grimloktt]

Thnx. I'll work on it later. I'm at work, too.

SweeterHome2 is absolutely amazing so far, though. I mean...you can do whatever you want on it. You can have it set up exactly like you'd like. The only thing I saw it lacked as of now was screen transitions of some sort.

 

[kodiak799]

I was going to post my theme and maybe start a thread at some point, but I've actually gone gone past the threshold of resources. I finally got something to stop giving me bitmap errors, but it's not quite how I want things, but will have to suffice.

I have 14+ screens (all push button from one screen = no swyping) and like 23+ widgets. From my perspective, this is how a home launcher should work. Battery life is still pretty good (@ 12 hours with low activity and screen always on). The developer has requested an audience with Google to try to work out some of the limitations. I'm hoping Droidswap can help my issue, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Good place to start is download some themes and copy/paste. There is a pretty steep learning curve and I have put in hours and hours to do my theme (mostly because of all the errors and editing getting very slow when you really load it up). Download something that is a good start toward what you want and go from there.

Best home on the market, by far, IMO. But it's not without it's bugs, but it actually seems very stable unless you get carried away like I did.

 

[kodiak799]

Here's one of the more confusing tips for you:

Layers are literally like putting screens on top of one another. So start with your default screen (if you do buttons like I did) on layer 1 or 2. If you use buttons to hide/show widgets, you'll want to have a full screen, blank transparent springboard on that level to prevent accidental activation of widgets/apps on layers below. If you want to "hide" the stuff on layers below, you'll need to make your that springboard a dark solid OR link a full screen picture (with image from gallery or live wall paper) to it. Note, the fulls screen pictures eat up more resources than anything and would be the first thing to avoid if you start getting bad bitmap errors.

Also, you can increase bitmap limits from preferences. Default is 6.6megs, and try increasing a few megs at a time. Helps a little, to a point.

 

[grimloktt]

Thnx. I downloaded 3 themes and picked one closest to a good starting point like I'd like. I've been going to edit theme and looking at its properties to figure out how to make things work. It's pretty exciting.

Until I finish building it, I'm using Home++ for daily operations.

 

[kodiak799]

Until I finish building it, I'm using Home++ for daily operations.

Haha....I sprung for the Home++ rip-off, too. Liked it and used it for awhile, but too many errors caused me to scrap it. Although I've been playing with Sweeterhome in various states of "functional" for a few months, haha.

I think my Home++ issue was primarily not playing nice with Locale and a few other apps.

I feel like I've pretty well mastered Sweeterhome, though it has so much potential I'm sure people are doing things others haven't even thought of.

This thread is as good a place as any for Sweeterhome tips. I know there are at least a few power users on this board.

Can't wait for their next update (which could be a while) as I'm sure it will be even better. They've got a nice little version of "live folder" widgets (call logs, SMS, contacts) that they need to expand to actual folders.

 

[kodiak799]

Here's another tip:
Tagged trays are nice, but if you hate the default tags like me make sure you turn-off sync tags in preferences. I still got annoyed every time I re-installed Sweeterhome that it would end-up syncing tags again. So I scrapped all my tagged trays for custom trays that won't refresh and just kept the "all apps" tagged tray.

 

[grimloktt]

When I go to edit theme, I see all the blocks linked on my screen (apps, etc.). Is there any way just to see/adjust the box of the label you click on?

P.S. I downloaded SweeterHome2 from their website. I didn't see it on the market...

 

[grimloktt]

Here's one of the more confusing tips for you:

Layers are literally like putting screens on top of one another. So start with your default screen (if you do buttons like I did) on layer 1 or 2. If you use buttons to hide/show widgets, you'll want to have a full screen, blank transparent springboard on that level to prevent accidental activation of widgets/apps on layers below. If you want to "hide" the stuff on layers below, you'll need to make your that springboard a dark solid OR link a full screen picture (with image from gallery or live wall paper) to it. Note, the fulls screen pictures eat up more resources than anything and would be the first thing to avoid if you start getting bad bitmap errors.

Also, you can increase bitmap limits from preferences. Default is 6.6megs, and try increasing a few megs at a time. Helps a little, to a point.

OK. It seems like all my default theme levels are 8? Maybe I need to change that so I can adjust the boxes of each button without messing with the other boxes...

 

[grimloktt]

Sh!t...I just accidentally deleted one of the boxes that opens when you hit a button and shows the apps. LOL Maybe I'll have to start over?

 

[kodiak799]

OK, most important tip: SAVE your themes (to your SD card, default option is internet and you probably don't want that) often - you know, Home1 then Home2, Home3, etc...

The editing process can be so finicky and time consuming that you should save a new version after every major change. Just go in with Astro or whatever file manager occasionally and delete the really old stuff.

To see what you are editing, you need to "know" roughly where that box is. Press and hold on that area. It will bring up a list of objects your finger is touching. Select the one you wish to edit, and it should then be "highlighted" on your screen. Press and hold and then select "edit" to change settings, or hold and drag to re-size (which takes some getting used to).

Sweeterhome2 is the current version and what I'm using.

 

[kodiak799]

Sh!t...I just accidentally deleted one of the boxes that opens when you hit a button and shows the apps. LOL Maybe I'll have to start over?

That is a tagged try linked to a springboard. Two-step process. Create a spring board, name it "Apps" or whatever. Then add a tagged tray, and select "All Apps". Then on your springboard, edit it to launch tagged tray "All Apps" - I think that's the first option on the edit list.

I recommend using custom trays as opposed to tagged trays (with the exception of "All Apps"). An app can only be in one sub-tagged tray. If you're going to place them individually and move them around, anyway, just use custom trays.

Note: The springboard and whatever widgets/trays it opens can be on different levels. I have springboards that launch other spring boards, but my theme is menu-driven or button style.

 

[grimloktt]

OK. I copied another box and re-tagged it to the one I deleted. Easy cheesey... ; )

I'll try the click and hold to see if it give me an option to choose one of the different boxes that are underneath it.

 

[grimloktt]

OK...what do the different levels do? How do I put a widget (say Power Control) on my home screen but set it so it stays visible regardless of the different buttons (springboards?) I tap?