Android Desktop Folders

[Max Peck]

Guys,

On my device I have noticed what seem to be named folders with apps in them that occupy a fairly large section of the desktop. When I create a new folder by dropping an app on top of another it creates a folder also but the created folders are collapsed by default. Even when you tap on them they don't expand to the size of those default ones.

Is there some kind of attribute setting somewhere that controls that behavior? How would I create one of those big square folders instead of the small ones?

- Max

 

[ocnbrze]

Guys,

On my device I have noticed what seem to be named folders with apps in them that occupy a fairly large section of the desktop. When I create a new folder by dropping an app on top of another it creates a folder also but the created folders are collapsed by default. Even when you tap on them they don't expand to the size of those default ones.

Is there some kind of attribute setting somewhere that controls that behavior? How would I create one of those big square folders instead of the small ones?

- Max

welcome to the forums!!!!!!!!!
what phone do you have? what launcher(if any) are you using?

on go launcher or nova launcher when you create a folder and tap on it, it does expand to show you all of the apps within it.

 

[!on]

+1 nova launcher. You can customize how it displays the folder, change it's name & the icon, even the transparency of the window!

 

[Max Peck]

Hey Guys,

Here's a screen shot of the device. (It's a Lenovo tablet).

Notice the large folder called "Games". Next to it the folder I created called "System". When I tap on "System" it will expand to a small window that shows what's in there but it never becomes large like those other folders that were on the desktop by default. How were those created? Is there an attribute setting somewhere that governs what the appearance of desktop windows should be?

Thanks,

-Max

 

[ocnbrze]

ok this is a skin specific to lenovo. which one do you have? i can move you to the appropriate forum where folks who have your tablet might be able to help answers better.

the ones i think that is already there maybe the only ones that comes with the skin that lenovo adds to the android os. each manufacturer sometimes add stuff on top of the android os......for example htc adds sense. motorolla adds moto blur and so forth.

 

[Max Peck]

ok this is a skin specific to lenovo. which one do you have? i can move you to the appropriate forum where folks who have your tablet might be able to help answers better.

the ones i think that is already there maybe the only ones that comes with the skin that lenovo adds to the android os. each manufacturer sometimes add stuff on top of the android os......for example htc adds sense. motorolla adds moto blur and so forth.

Ahh, OK ... a vendor skin. That seems to make sense.

The device is a Lenovo IdeaTab A2107A.

Edit: I did some more sleuthing and found in the All Apps section a group of items called "Widgets" which appears to be what these guys are. Apparently a set of "apps" that have a different front-end presentation at the desktop level. Probably similar to desktop "gadgets" in Windows. I'm OK with this, I was just thinking they were folders and was wondering why new ones created didn't exhibit the same behavior. I played with them a little more and realized that the apps inside them could not be deleted and none could be added - they're not O/S folders at all, they're just specialty programs some that launch other apps. I'm clear on the situation now.

I'm more used to iOS than I am Android at this point. If there's an analog to a "widget" in iOS I haven't run into it yet. Aside from that the Android desktop is behaving similarly to iOS.

Thanks again,

-Max

 

[ocnbrze]

yeah i was going to say that it could be a widget as well. glad you were able to figure it out. it is one reason why i love android vs ios. it is way more customizable. and widgets can be very useful as well.

 

[Max Peck]

yeah i was going to say that it could be a widget as well. glad you were able to figure it out. it is one reason why i love android vs ios. it is way more customizable. and widgets can be very useful as well.

I saw mention of the customization ability (via Widgets) mentioned on another message board. Are widgets just a version of an app that is created that way or is this functionality that you can add yourself? I.E. a couple of those widgets seemed to be launchers for a couple of similar type programs.

-Max

 

[ocnbrze]

I saw mention of the customization ability (via Widgets) mentioned on another message board. Are widgets just a version of an app that is created that way or is this functionality that you can add yourself? I.E. a couple of those widgets seemed to be launchers for a couple of similar type programs.

-Max

widgets are part of some apps. not all apps have the widget functionality. most will let you know if there are widgets available for it or not in the description.

widgets are cool because some of them can interact right on the screen......like soundhound has a cool widget that allows you to hit the big yellow button widget and it will listen and display the info of a song it hears.

or you can get some cool calculators that you can just plug away right on the screen.

some like the calender widget will display the current calender. but when you need to enter an event, it will launch the actual calender app so that you can then enter the event.

so again it will depend on the app......hope that helps.