Ruttensoft Homescreen Designer 2007

[Guest Mechanicaldan]

http://ruttensoft.com/

I've been having issues getting other people's homescreens to work on my phone, so I thought I'd go and find the Ruttensoft software again and make my own. Well, perfect timing. Their website says that they just released the new 2007 version that supports WM5 and WM6. Plus, you can design portrait and landscape backgrounds. I'm now sure how it'll work with the Vox, but I'll be playing with it over the weekend.

I did download and install the free trial version, and it has a ton of plug-ins that it supports. This should be a LOT OF FUN!!!

Regards,

Dan :)

[Guest neo89]

cool, now we can finnaly make more homescreens, need a Matrix one big time!!!!!

[Guest paholman]

cool, now we can finnaly make more homescreens, need a Matrix one big time!!!!!

This is something I very quickly knocked up using my "Endless" homescreen using a Matrix320x320 background and the Windows Mobile Green color scheme.

Any good for you?

[Guest Dieter09]

So, it is not possible to make a landscape and portrait homescreen? In 1 time.

And is it possible, or how can i manage, that with the calendar option i have more than just 1 appointment?

I would like to see 2 or more

[Guest neo89]

hey paholman, thats looks heavy, but it would look better without all the stuff on the homescreen! maybe the time, carrier and top plugins, and a cool picture!

[Guest paholman]

hey paholman, thats looks heavy, but it would look better without all the stuff on the homescreen! maybe the time, carrier and top plugins, and a cool picture!

Hi Neo89,

Agreed it does look pretty heavy. The "Endless" only really works with certain backgrounds and this obviously isn't one of them.

I personally like all the plugins and icons on there, making it more of a portable pocket PC than a normal mobile phone, which is why I created "Endless". It's not to everyone's taste.

There is a Matrix one in the downloads here: http://www.modaco.com/downloads-file1569.html

I've attached the matrix background used above, perhaps you could use one of the Simple Default ones or even STEAM by DAK ATTACK wit h this background and the Windows Mobile Green color screen, and see what it looks like.

Failing that, this Ruttensoft Homescreen Designer is the ideal software to help you create your own

Edited August 17, 2007 by paholman

[Guest neo89]

yeh, ive already tried using ruttensoft, but the problem is either you can only choose landscape or portrait, and in the VOX theres both!!, so its kinda hard to use at the moment, lets hope they fix it and bring it out for use with the VOX!

[Guest Disco Stu]

I'm not a skinner but this seems to be quite a tricky problem.

If you check out the SBSH forum you will see that adapting the Facade plugin to portrait/landscape switching is taking some time to resolve.

When I was knocking out simple home screens for Pocket PCs it was simply a matter of accepting that the background image would be different for the 2 orientations (?) - say you had a picture of a person in portrait, in landscape you'd get just head-and-shoulders.

I have no idea why this is more complicated in Smartphones. :)

[Guest neo89]

indeed, an intresting deal we have with WM6 Smartphones and homescreens!

[Guest paholman]

I'm not a skinner but this seems to be quite a tricky problem.

If you check out the SBSH forum you will see that adapting the Facade plugin to portrait/landscape switching is taking some time to resolve.

When I was knocking out simple home screens for Pocket PCs it was simply a matter of accepting that the background image would be different for the 2 orientations (?) - say you had a picture of a person in portrait, in landscape you'd get just head-and-shoulders.

I have no idea why this is more complicated in Smartphones. :)

The difficulty is if you plan to use "x" and "y" alignments instead of the "halign".

If you put all your plugins/text within a 240x240 area, then it will be displayed in both portrait and landscape.

Anything lower can be seen with scrolling.

Alternatively, put some extra plugin values in the last 80 pixels of a 240x320 (WxH) and they will be hiding on portrait and then show on landscape.

Selecting a background image (320x320) in the Settings > Homescreen menu, instead of coding it in the XML seems to actually centre the image on Portrait, and on Landscape.

I don't use "x" and "y" in my VOX homescreens, but try to align "center", "left" or "right" which works fine switching from/to Portrait and Landscape.

Here is an example using a BlueButton 320x320 image:-

Select the 320x320 background image when choosing the homescreen,

Neo89: This is where you could use the Matrix 320x320 image I put in the previous post above. :P

Portrait mode

In Portrait mode you can see the text in my plugins is aligned either, left, right or centre, and the SmartMonitor shows 4 items, Battery, Memory, Storage Card and Phone Storage. There is a 5th but it's not visible in this Portrait mode.

Then switch to Landscape:-

In Landscape mode here you can see the blue image in the background is still centred, this was done automatically as the background image used was not coded in the XML. The text is also still aligned, left, centre and right but this time within a wider area, and now see additional items that are in the last 80 pixel (241 - 320) area to the right, Config button and Temperature monitor.

The other alternative is to use and define different size background image for Portrait and for Landscape in the XML itself using the "bgimage-rotated" attribute:-

The above, only applies if you are not specifically aligning any plugins/text to an area of image on the actual background itself.

If the text on your homescreen is aligned to images actually on the background image, then it is important to ensure both the portrait and landscape display the exact same 240x240 screen area.

Here is a quick example U just whipped up for this post, which uses two different background sizes and text aligned to a specific parts of the background image:-

The plugins here are aligned using "x" and "y" co-ordinates and stay in the same location in Portrait or Landscape and are aligned to the chrome parts of the background image.

Note: The Portrait background was simply cropped from the Landscape 320x320 version to make a 240x320 version, so they both have exactly the same 240x240 image area

The problem with Ruttensoft is it crops/stretches the background image to fit the display, so it is best to either create your backgrounds to the required size before hand, and not use the one created by Ruttensoft and edit the XML afterwards to use your own versions. You need to edit the XML for the VOX anyway if you want to use two backgrounds and use the "bgimage-rotated" attribute for the landscape switch.

If Ruttensoft doesn't work for you, then try the manual method and use Wally's excellent tutorials:

Tutorial: Creating XML homescreens

Homescreen guide for beginners, Plugin resource

I hope this helps

Edited August 18, 2007 by paholman

[Guest Pr0sper]

If you check out the SBSH forum you will see that adapting the Facade plugin to portrait/landscape switching is taking some time to resolve.

Uhm... Facade always worked in both orientations. There's a BIG (!!!) disaccord regarding this. The only thing that will be added to have special Vox support is a second height setting. So you can have different height settings in Landscape and Portrait. Sooo... you might have something like THIS!

This homescreen works in both Landscape and Portrait mode, just like on the screenshot !! I'm using it here on my S710 :)

[Guest hmoner]

Pr0sper

may i know where did u get that homescreen ? it looks awsome !

[Guest Pr0sper]

Pr0sper

may i know where did u get that homescreen ? it looks awsome !

Selfmade one :) Vox compatible update of my X Reloaded skin (here). Will be out soon, I guess tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, since it requires a Facade update which should be out then...

[Guest ombre33]

Uhm... Facade always worked in both orientations. There's a BIG (!!!) disaccord regarding this. The only thing that will be added to have special Vox support is a second height setting. So you can have different height settings in Landscape and Portrait. Sooo... you might have something like THIS!

This homescreen works in both Landscape and Portrait mode, just like on the screenshot !! I'm using it here on my S710 ;)

ooooooooooooooooh! :) me wants this iconbar! i like that, i like that a lot! :P can i have? p-p-pretty-please?

[Guest jpeel]

Is that an iconbar from phoneAlarm?

[Guest hmoner]

Facade updated !

hope you can get it soon

[Guest Pr0sper]

Is that an iconbar from phoneAlarm?

It is.

ooooooooooooooooh! ;) me wants this iconbar! i like that, i like that a lot! :wub: can i have? p-p-pretty-please?

Facade updated !

hope you can get it soon

Uhm... guys? It's already out :D

http://www.modaco.com/Prosper-s-Vox-skins-...st&p=837935

... or directly on my page.

[Guest Bunecarera]

How can I make a background and xml so I can scroll in landscape mode (HTC Vox)?

I'm using a modified HTC">http://www.modaco.com/htc-TOUCH-theme-VOX-t255663.html"]HTC Touch theme from Looby and i have inserted the Oxios Task plugin in portrait mode under the calender.

In attachement are 2 screenshots.

What I want now is to be able to acces the task plugin in landscape without screwing up my screen. Therefore I need to be able to scroll the background. I can acces it, but then my screen gets badword up because the background stays the same...

How do I do this? Whitch dimensions do my background need to be? And what do I need to change in my xml?

Thx.

[Guest paholman]

How can I make a background and xml so I can scroll in landscape mode (HTC Vox)?

I'm using a modified HTC">http://www.modaco.com/htc-TOUCH-theme-VOX-t255663.html"]HTC Touch theme from Looby and i have inserted the Oxios Task plugin in portrait mode under the calender.

In attachement are 2 screenshots.

What I want now is to be able to acces the task plugin in landscape without screwing up my screen. Therefore I need to be able to scroll the background. I can acces it, but then my screen gets badword up because the background stays the same...

How do I do this? Whitch dimensions do my background need to be? And what do I need to change in my xml?

Thx.

Scrolling is a problem with plugins aligned to images on the background itself.

The only way around this (I know of) is to slice your background image into strips and assign each strip as a background image to the actual plugins themselves. When the plugins scroll, the images scroll with them.

This example XML here uses Carrier.PNG as background image, and when the plugin is selected, it will show the CarrierSel.PNG image.

The only downside is, some plugins you can't use an "bgimage" attribute, GPRS plugin for example.

Hope this helps

[Guest Bunecarera]

All my plugins stay in the same place opposed to each other. The only thing I need to do, is to scroll the background. Then they will still be in the right place. So, is scrolling the background a possibility?

In attachement is my homsescreen, just place the 2 files in app Data - Home. Then you can see what I mean.

Smartouch.rar

[Guest paholman]

All my plugins stay in the same place opposed to each other. The only thing I need to do, is to scroll the background. Then they will still be in the right place. So, is scrolling the background a possibility?

In attachement is my homsescreen, just place the 2 files in app Data - Home. Then you can see what I mean.

This is the way it works unforunately, plugins scroll, homescreen background images don't.

My only suggestion is to slice up the background images into strips in a paint program (equal to the sizes of the order of the plugins) and assign each strip as a background image to the plugins themselves.

Fiddly but it works.