Before we get started, I seen this post from 2020 about icon customization in v2 getting to what we know today. I found that to be amusing when I had rebuilt all of that in about 3 months of time and with less code in jetpack conpose
Icons, Icons and Icons
This week has been a busy week as I cranked out alot of issues and we gained some momentum. It’s surprising to know how much I ignored while doing some internal test. Most likely becuase I was focused on the UI elements and not what it was actually providing.
Yesterday, I ended the weekend with one last hotfix update for this week’s spree of updates while including a new, we’ll old, feature. The all apps button returns and it’s theme able. I understand some users may have larger fingers so swiping and gestures may not be your thing and the swipe up indicator might be too small. To access the all apps button, simply remove an app from one of your dock slots and click on an empty slot and there will be an option to add an all apps button. Like other apps, you can edit the icon with an icon pack or a custom chosen icon. This icon has a similar ID as older launchers but behave similar to how older launchers would handle the button. We migrated it from an action in your dock as an action that could be moved around back in the day.
Additionally, this week’s updates improved on performance, optimization and and foldable support. I also cracked down on packages slipping into the app drawer that shouldn’t be in there. Apparently driver updates, time zone updates and other apex packages where making there way in our app drawer and we thought they were broken packages but they weren’t, they were just secret packages that android used that GCA was picking up. I might turn this into a feature actually… Some package monitor repo you can monitor to keep an eye on possible malware…
What’s next?
The base infrastructure of GCA Launcher v3 is nearly done that I’m proud to say. I’m not ffraid to advertise or push the launcher to other people to try without needing to standby and monitor for a bug I know exist.
Right now, the focus is not to add any more new features and crack down on what we already have. The idea is too either solidify pre existing features or add some needed customization.
Dynamic icons are the last added feature I wanna include in the base infrastructure. This includes calendar and clock drawables. Right now, I’m working on the clock icon but the calendar icon is pretty locked down. GCA Launcher will generate these icons by default and fallback to icon pack support if needed. If the feature is turned off, GCA will use default icons.
This week, il be working on UI touch up as you’ll notice some buttons kinda misplaced, maybe text not fitting or graphics not working as expected. This is me in training with jetpack. I’m completely new to the language so there are gonna be some issues we run into. My goal is to optimize ui and graphics in our menus and settings windows, add customization to panes still needing customization, unify any settings interfaces that may have been experimental at the time, ensure all customization is mapped correctly, ensure the search in settings is wired correctly.
We probably will not have daily updates this week since I’m confident now things are working as expected but I do want users to understand they are allowed to reach out and submit request.
The plus one button should also be added in our next update. If your unaware what that is, it’s a widget I created that unifies all of my apps. This widget is basically a signature board. You click it, add a name and it’s posted for everyone to see. It’s your way of saying, this app is awesome and I approve. If you download the gsd Mobile app, itl show the total clicks we got as a community.
License options also went live this weekend as users are able to forecast the prices of GCA Launcher. As a beta user, you are privileged to a beta subscription founder price. You can either pay a full license price or do a yearly or monthly subscriptions. Once the beta ends, the founder subscription ends and the normal monthly price becomes active. Pro features have not been decided yet but you will soon see those badges start appearing next to settings. Once the beta ends, those settings will be locked behind a pay wall. My goal is to create a default user experience that makes Gca Launcher feel complete and allow pro features act as benifits and not requirements.
That’s all I got today, I hope to see you all return to Gca Launcher. Spread the word, we’re back and looking for a community again.
