So with a less than official v5 Sports Tracker out, I finally gave in and made a GPS folder. As we still don’t have a MenuEditor for V5, or a suitable .mif file with cool icons, it looks like the standard new folder icon. (example.)
But I noticed that the “Location” application, simply links to other applications. You can notice the “link” because of the screen flash you see, that doesn’t happen when switching views inside an app. It links to the known Landmarks and GPS data apps, and the positioning pane in the settings app (let’s ignore that the positioning settings’ icon is the same as landmarks’, it’ll probably get changed for a “map with wrench” icon soon enough).
So, what’s the use of making it an app? A folder with those icons would be much nicer, as it would give people like me an opportunity to customize it, and it wouldn’t be any different for people that don’t mess with the original menu layout (therefore, saying this is anti-clutter is not an answer)
If it was a folder, it would give me a nice link, and stop me from having two levels of GPS-related apps.
I think the reason behind it is political, people often complained about S60′s menu having too many icons and being too cluttered (fools!). S60 just clumped stuff together in apps, as if they left it in folders the licensees could (and would) mess with them. (*cough* Nokia and Samsung *cough*)
I say this approach kinda worked on the communication apps (bluetooth, usb, etc) as those had redundant panes on the Settings app. I still think they should have gone the other way around, dumping every communication related app from the settings app and having a separate “Comm. Settings” app, but, oh well.
But it wasn’t well realized on the GPS-related apps, as there is still a redundant Positioning Settings pane in the settings app (Settings>Phone>App. Sett. > Positioning). Plus the two level thing if you wanna have everything related in the same folder (like me).
Changing this would be incredibly easy (literally just adding a folder + icon and editing those apps so they show in the main menu), but it’s the kind of thing I don’t expect to see changed in a while. Maybe once the first Symbian Foundation powered UIs come along, but I bet Nokia has bigger things to worry about than menu organization.
btw, lol @ me for writing ~400 words about folders, again.
Random S60v5 nitpick #182 (yes, it involves folders)
So with a less than official v5 Sports Tracker out, I finally gave in and made a GPS folder. As we still don’t have a MenuEditor for V5, or a suitable .mif file with cool icons, it looks like the standard new folder icon. (example.)
But I noticed that the “Location” application, simply links to other applications. You can notice the “link” because of the screen flash you see, that doesn’t happen when switching views inside an app. It links to the known Landmarks and GPS data apps, and the positioning pane in the settings app (let’s ignore that the positioning settings’ icon is the same as landmarks’, it’ll probably get changed for a “map with wrench” icon soon enough).
So, what’s the use of making it an app? A folder with those icons would be much nicer, as it would give people like me an opportunity to customize it, and it wouldn’t be any different for people that don’t mess with the original menu layout (therefore, saying this is anti-clutter is not an answer)
If it was a folder, it would give me a nice link, and stop me from having two levels of GPS-related apps.
I think the reason behind it is political, people often complained about S60′s menu having too many icons and being too cluttered (fools!). S60 just clumped stuff together in apps, as if they left it in folders the licensees could (and would) mess with them. (*cough* Nokia and Samsung *cough*)
I say this approach kinda worked on the communication apps (bluetooth, usb, etc) as those had redundant panes on the Settings app. I still think they should have gone the other way around, dumping every communication related app from the settings app and having a separate “Comm. Settings” app, but, oh well.
But it wasn’t well realized on the GPS-related apps, as there is still a redundant Positioning Settings pane in the settings app (Settings>Phone>App. Sett. > Positioning). Plus the two level thing if you wanna have everything related in the same folder (like me).
Changing this would be incredibly easy (literally just adding a folder + icon and editing those apps so they show in the main menu), but it’s the kind of thing I don’t expect to see changed in a while. Maybe once the first Symbian Foundation powered UIs come along, but I bet Nokia has bigger things to worry about than menu organization.
btw, lol @ me for writing ~400 words about folders, again.