Trying ADW Launcher 2

MoodyBlues · Jun 25, 2019

PitCarver said:
Gave it an honest try, MoodyBlues, but I couldn't justify a change from Nova,

I'm glad you gave it a fair try.

When I play around with Nova, I do what you did, in reverse--I look for certain features/functions I'm used to, can't find them, then decide to stick with ADW.

I know ADW has some infinite scroll settings, but I don't recall one for the dock. But, honestly, I'm having a hard time picturing what that would look like, or do. Can you describe it or show me?

Just FYI, ADW can use icon packs made for Nova and other launchers.

I don't know why your weather widget didn't work. Mine do. :thinking:

PitCarver · Jun 26, 2019

MoodyBlues said:
I know ADW has some infinite scroll settings, but I don't recall one for the dock. But, honestly, I'm having a hard time picturing what that would look like, or do. Can you describe it or show me?

I'm generally open to new apps, especially when recommended by someone, from here, that uses them.
Found several that way.

ADW has the infinite scroll on the screens but not the dock.

I have 5 screens that are set to infinite scroll, along with 3 dock screens that scroll independent of the screens themselves.
Dock 1 has voicemail, phone, apps, text and contacts. Dock 2 has chrome, Samsung internet, playstore, and system and Nova settings. Dock 3 has 5 direct dial shortcuts. Swiping left or right can rotate through all 3.

lvt · Jun 26, 2019

It seems that there is no new update for ADW2 since 2018, is there any know issue with Pie?

Hadron · Jun 26, 2019

Nope, I tested it with Android 9 just the other day & it seemed to work fine,.

However there were enough things that I couldn't do with it that I reverted to Nova. I wasn't fussed about the rotating dock, because the slide-up one provided another way of providing that functionality, but its handling of folders in the dock didn't match Nova's and I think I remember there being too much padding around some elements (though several other launchers have that problem too, so I may be mixing things there).

Edit: tried again, found how to remove the padding (have to change a setting in a different place). Looks better now. Remaining issues are lack of infinite scroll on the dock (I use that too) and a clumsier folder system than Nova: I do actually have nested folders of apps in my dock on Nova, and it does make some of the big folders more manageable.

MoodyBlues · Jun 26, 2019

PitCarver said:
I have 5 screens that are set to infinite scroll, along with 3 dock screens that scroll independent of the screens themselves.
Dock 1 has voicemail, phone, apps, text and contacts. Dock 2 has chrome, Samsung internet, playstore, and system and Nova settings. Dock 3 has 5 direct dial shortcuts. Swiping left or right can rotate through all 3.

Thanks for the description. I must've been tired last night, or something, because I just couldn't picture it. It makes sense now.

I currently have 11 screens, and I always disable infinite scroll for them. In general, I'm not an infinite scroll person! What you're doing with your dock, I'm doing with my desktops, i.e., having certain things on certain screens.

Dock 2 has chrome, Samsung internet, playstore, and system and Nova settings.

There's no need for me to have system and ADW settings physically anywhere, as long-pressing any screen brings them both up. I'm a super-minimalist, so that fits right in.

Thanks for sharing!

no one · Jun 26, 2019

Nova is by far and away the best browser.

MoodyBlues · Jun 26, 2019

Hadron said:
its handling of folders in the dock didn't match Nova's

Can you explain or show what you're referring to? I've never put folders in the dock (that I recall) and don't know what your objective is.

and I think I remember there being too much padding around some elements

Most padding can be adjusted. Do you remember any specific elements?

MoodyBlues · Jun 26, 2019

no one said:
Nova is by far and away the best browser.

Perhaps it's the best browser, but I don't think it's the best launcher!

no one · Jun 26, 2019

I was hacked my stupid gnomes!

Hadron · Jun 26, 2019

MoodyBlues said:
Can you explain or show what you're referring to? I've never put folders in the dock (that I recall) and don't know what your objective is.

Most padding can be adjusted. Do you remember any specific elements?

I've edited my post a bit after trying again (I'd tested about 4 alternative launchers, something I do occasionally, and had them a bit muddled).

What I do is I keep a few key shortcuts on one dock page, and on the other two I have categorised folders of key apps (the app drawer is just for less used apps). This is actually the only place I use folders, as I don't keep apps on my desktop at all. However some categories get quite big, and no launcher seems to let you specify their shapes as they grow. Nova actually allows you to nest folders inside each other, which I find helpful in these cases (e.g. my "Travel" folder has folders called "Planes", "Trains" and "Automobiles"). I've not met another that does this.

I found a solution to the padding: it seems there are two settings for padding of desktop items, in 2 different places.

MoodyBlues · Jul 1, 2019

@Hadron, you've really piqued my curiosity. I'd appreciate some insight.

I have categorised folders of key apps (the app drawer is just for less used apps). This is actually the only place I use folders, as I don't keep apps on my desktop at all.

You may recall from screenshots that I'm a total minimalist, too, on my computers and devices. I normally have zero widgets, apps, gizmos, etc. on any of my desktops, whether on an Android device or Linux computer. Can't stand clutter!

The only reason my current phone has apps on one of its 11 desktops is because--unlike my previous phone--apps I use all the time 'disappear' from recents (as detailed in this thread). Since I never found a solution, I picked one desktop and stuck my go-to apps on it.

However some categories get quite big, and no launcher seems to let you specify their shapes as they grow.

Shapes?

Nova actually allows you to nest folders inside each other, which I find helpful in these cases (e.g. my "Travel" folder has folders called "Planes", "Trains" and "Automobiles").

Are you sure you're not a male me? Or vice versa?

I swear we think alike. Take my photography, for example: on my /data partition, I have subdirectories based on content, e.g., media or mail.

Under /data/media I have videos, photos, music, etc., each broken down further through various criteria. So just for California photos it looks like:

/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California
and then -->
/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/northern
and -->
/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/southern
then -->
/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/southern/beaches

/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/southern/deserts

/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/southern/Disneyland

/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/southern/Hollywood

/data/media/images/Pictures/places/California/southern/mountains

and so on.

I've not met another that does this

After reading what you're doing, I thought I'd give it a try. I've always seen 'folders' in ADW's settings, but never did anything with them. Now, wanting to try what you do...I was unable to figure out how to even get started! I like its old UI much better; it was more...I don't know, cleaner? More straightforward? Something. If I wanted to add something, I chose 'add' and then picked what I wanted (widget, shortcut, etc.).

If you're still with me, thanks!

Can you please draw me a diagram of how you do this on Nova, and how you even added a folder on ADW? Thanks, dude!

Hadron · Jul 1, 2019

Here are a couple of screenshots to illustrate it. The first shows the System folder in my dock open: the icons along the bottom and right edges are app shortcuts, while the 4 in the top left corner are folders. The second shows the "Backup Tools" subfolder opened as well (some of the other subfolder a have more apps in them).

(The cropping isn't me hiding anything: the site was claiming that the full screenshot was too large for it to handle).

How you do this: you have to go into Nova's settings, drawer groups, folders, then edit the lists of apps and folders in each folder there. Once you have the folder there it's easier to edit from the desktop, but you can't create nested folders by dragging one folder into another.

For ADW I think just made folders by dragging things into each other (I don't recall finding another way but can't be sure).

By "shape" of a folder I mean how many rows X how many columns. The launchers all make their own choices depending on the number of icons, and they aren't always what I'd prefer.

In terms of filesystem folders (or directories as I think of them - showing that I pre-date WIMP UIs...) your photo organisation is very much how I organise my computers. I keep meaning to do that with my phone (I get irritated by the lack of useful classification) but I never find the afternoon it would take to do it

MoodyBlues · Jul 1, 2019

Thank you, @Hadron. I appreciate your input.

(And, yes, they're directories to me, too.

)

Milo Willamson · Jul 3, 2019

PitCarver said:
Gave it an honest try, MoodyBlues, but I couldn't justify a change from Nova,
I've been a Nova Prime user for a long time, and there was a couple of features that I simply couldn't find on ADW, the ability to drop icons in between the grid; couldn't get the dock into infinite scroll.
Also, for some reason or another, I couldn't get my AccuWeather widget to work.

I was impressed though with the ability to easily theme it, initial setup allowed me to mimic Nova. I also tried one of the dark themes, from the play store. Which gave ADW dark settings as well as a small number of dark theme apps. I also thought that the ability to add filters, to the apps, might be interesting. I'll hang on to it and play with it, from time to time and see if I can replicate the Nova experience a bit better, but Nova will remain my default launcher for the time being.

I was too as well skeptical at first, used Nova for a few years, but when you do change over to ADW it seems a bit more then what Nova could ever hoped for, to me, it is less confusing. And simply push or tap, swipe and add instantly.

Milo Willamson · Dec 3, 2019

Milo Willamson said:
I was too as well skeptical at first, used Nova for a few years, but when you do change over to ADW it seems a bit more then what Nova could ever hoped for, to me, it is less confusing. And simply push or tap, swipe and add instantly.

I am still using ADW from that post woooooooo

Trying ADW Launcher 2

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