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How to change the default home screen?

R

Robotica

Lurker
Hi,

I have bought a HTC Wildfire for my daughters birthday and installed her email account and the telephone numbers with a picture.

The default home screen (Window) is a complete mess and too difficult to handle for a beginner.
The HTC Wildfire has 7 screens (Windows) available.

I rearranged screen 7 so that this screen would only show the applications she need.

I would like now to make this screen the default screen every time the phone is started.

Is there a way to do this?

TIA
 
Download Launcher Pro. It has 3 screens, and always defaults to the middle screen.

Make it your default launcher.

Press the bottom middle checkerboard icon, this is your apps tray. You will see of the apps on your phone. Pick the most important ones. Press on the important icon and hold your finger on it, then drag it to the middle screen and place it where you want. Repeat this until the most important apps are on the deefault screen.

If you make a mistake, press the home button to go back to the default screen, long press the mistake icon, and drag to the trash can. It will not erase the app, but just remove it from the home screen.

And if she ever wants to use an app not on the home screen, just press the apps tray button to see them all.

Long press an area where there is not an app, and you will be able to install a widget or a new wall paper, or a folder, or a short cut, etc...

The bottom row of the screen will show 5 short cuts for the most important apps. You can change them by long pressing them. This bottom row also scrolled left/right, but defaults to the 5 you now see. Make those five the MOST used icons. For me I use, phone, email, calendar, messenging, and Opera Mini Browser there.
 
^ post is probably correct. If you turn the phone off and back on, see which if the 7 screens it defaults to.

Still though, I think you'll be glad that you went to Launcher Pro, or there is another good one too, I think it is called Go Launcher...
 
ClubSteeler said:
^ post is probably correct. If you turn the phone off and back on, see which if the 7 screens it defaults to.

Still though, I think you'll be glad that you went to Launcher Pro, or there is another good one too, I think it is called Go Launcher...
Click to expand...

Is it is Go Launcher EX, i use both but prefere Go Launcher EX, as it has lots of nice themes.
 
Ah, in Go Launcher Ex what you do is swipe upward to get the "preview" of your home screens. They each have a little "home" icon at the bottom, the one that's green is the default. If you click the gray home button on any of the others it'll switch to that being the default.
 
sonofaresiii said:
any particular reason you can't just rearrange the default screen to include what she needs?
Click to expand...

The reasons why I don't like (want) to change the default screen are:
- I am managing here phone and a lot of applications on the home screen are needed by me, but not by her.
- In order to clean up the default screen, I would need to delete a lot of Applications/Widgets. I don't want to do that.
 
ClubSteeler said:
^ post is probably correct. If you turn the phone off and back on, see which if the 7 screens it defaults to.

Still though, I think you'll be glad that you went to Launcher Pro, or there is another good one too, I think it is called Go Launcher...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information.

If I install "Launcher Pro", Go Launcher", "Go Launcher X" or whatever, will I loose any existing Applications/Widgets?

Is there a (easy) way to go back to the original setup in I would not like the new launcher?
A "Factory Reset" is not a viable option as I would lose to much information/programs on the phone.
 
Robotica said:
Thanks for the information.

If I install "Launcher Pro", Go Launcher", "Go Launcher X" or whatever, will I loose any existing Applications/Widgets?

Is there a (easy) way to go back to the original setup in I would not like the new launcher?
A "Factory Reset" is not a viable option as I would lose to much information/programs on the phone.
Click to expand...

When you install a new launcher, be it Launcher Pro or Go Launcher EX, you can choose everytime which Launcher you use. When you go back to your stock Launcher the setup stays as it was. When you use one of the new launchers for the first time you have to set them up as you like them. After that this setup is stored so you don't loose it when switching launchers.
 
Robotica said:
The reasons why I don't like (want) to change the default screen are:
- I am managing here phone and a lot of applications on the home screen are needed by me, but not by her.
- In order to clean up the default screen, I would need to delete a lot of Applications/Widgets. I don't want to do that.
Click to expand...

Ummm...


Removing the widgets from the home screen does not delete them from the phone. You know that right? You can always add the widgets again later.

The middle screen is the default screen. Your solution is so simple, you are looking too far beyond it. You don't need alternative launchers or to download anything - that just makes one more thing to deal with and setup.

Move the items from the center screen to another screen, say screen 6. (If you don't know, you do this by long pressing on the widget and then dragging it. Drag it to the edge of the screen and you can drop it onto another screen that way...)

Move your things somewhere else. Move her things to the center.

Done.


It's a simple solution. Don't over complicate it.
 
amlothi said:
Ummm...

Removing the widgets from the home screen does not delete them from the phone. You know that right? You can always add the widgets again later.

The middle screen is the default screen. Your solution is so simple, you are looking too far beyond it. You don't need alternative launchers or to download anything - that just makes one more thing to deal with and setup.

Move the items from the center screen to another screen, say screen 6. (If you don't know, you do this by long pressing on the widget and then dragging it. Drag it to the edge of the screen and you can drop it onto another screen that way...)

Move your things somewhere else. Move her things to the center.

Done.

It's a simple solution. Don't over complicate it.
Click to expand...

I have tried to do that, but end up with everything on the "Default" screen AND on the new screen (screen 7).

I wanted to make the "Default screen" user friendly for her and move all the Applications/Widgets that she don't use or is not supposed to use to screen 7. But everything I move appears on both screens.

PS.: I bought the HTC Wildfire and let it upgrade to to Android 2.2 by the salesman.

REMARK:
I can delete Widgets/Shortcuts/Everything on the home screen and on the other screens by simply "Clicking" on it for a while until the "Waste Bin" appears, and the drag them to the "Waste Bin".

But all the programs that appears after clicking on "^", cannot be deleted.
"Clicking" on them and drag the to the "Waste Bin" have no effect.

The same with "Drag and Drop".
The effect of "Drag and Drop" is rather "Copy and Paste".
 
Are you sure you're actually MOVING things, and not just adding them again? I've honestly never heard of something being moved and duplicating itself-- I guess if that IS actually happening you should try a factory reset, because something is wrong with your phone.

I find it far more likely, however, that you're not actually moving things, but simply adding them again. As suggested, long-click the item you want to move (don't let go of it!) and you can drag it to the side of the screen, then put it on a different screen.

I haven't played around with it much, but I don't know of any way to reset the default screen in the stock launcher (though it may be possible). And be aware that even if you use a different launcher (Go Launcher Ex, etc.) you'll have to/should delete all the widgets off the stock launcher, which is the same process as just moving things.

There's no reason, theoretically, you shouldn't be able to just move the things you want to a different screen.

If, somehow, there's some bug we all haven't heard of that's making it impossible to move widgets around on your phone, we'll need more information on what is actually happening to help you fix it.

edit: final note, I don't have much (any) experience with the HTC wildfire, so maybe there's something going on I don't know about (but I still bet you're just adding new things instead of actually moving them), if nothing we've said so far helps I suggest asking a mod to move this thread to the HTC Wildfire sub-forum, where they're more familiar with that specific phone.
 
Robotica said:
But all the programs that appears after clicking on "^", cannot be deleted.
"Clicking" on them and drag the to the "Waste Bin" have no effect.

The same with "Drag and Drop".
The effect of "Drag and Drop" is rather "Copy and Paste".
Click to expand...

I see now what you are doing. I had a hard time understanding before, but when you click the "^" what you are doing is opening up the App Drawer. That isn't one of your home screens. (The home screens are the ones that you swipe sideways to get to.)

The app drawer will show all of the apps installed on your phone. There is no way around that.

When you copy from there to the home screen, all you are really doing is creating a shortcut to apps that you use frequently.


If you are concerned about your child using apps from the app drawer, perhaps the best thing for you to install is an app which will "lock" certain apps and require a password to use them.

I cannot personally recommend one, as I don't use one, but I found this while searching: Lock Your Android Apps With Application Safer
 
Thanks a lot for this reply.

I was yesterday in the shop where I had bought the phone, and the technician told me almost the same thing.

His words were: "You can not delete or move anything that is in this screen (^). Trying to move hem will only create a Duplicate (shortcut to) the Application".

But all that set me back to the original position.
I can not create a more default "user friendly Window (screen)" in one of the 7 Windows and I can not make the default Window more user friendly for my daughter.

Guess I will have to live with that.
 
Well, you can actually. You just might have to re-think your original plan.

The screen you get when you press the HOME key is your default screen. You can place shortcuts to all of the apps that your daughter needs there. That gives her one quick place she can go (by pressing HOME) to see all the apps she uses most often. (That is actually the intended purpose of the home screen.)

The app drawer, where you press the ^, is basically an "ALL APPS ON THIS PHONE" screen.

If you don't add any other security, she will have access to those if she goes looking around in there.

So, as I mentioned, you could try installing some security to require a password for any other apps.
 
Actually, I think that the best solution is to simply forget the setup of this phone altogether and install an application that I have seen in the "MarketPlace".

This application offers only 3 screens, but the "Home" screen is more user friendly and doesn't has the All Applications shortcut.
On top of that, this application offers a bar with Pictures and calling can be done by simple clicking the pictures.
 
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