Q: App Categories Widget Similar to Aviate

I decided to give Aviate a try yesterday, and I really liked the concept, but it was a little too rigid for me. So I spent some time last night playing around with different widgets and Nova features to incorporate the parts of Aviate that I appreciate into my current setup.

One concept I really appreciate is the categories idea. The screen to the right of my default home screen has long been a collection of folders that kind of function the same way.

With Nova's option to turn off padding, you can essentially turn a screen into a full-page widget, and I was wondering if anyone has ever come across a widget that works like the categories page on Aviate.

I would like to be able to put my most frequently used apps along the left edge, so they are visible and one-tap accessible, and then be able to expand to see the apps I don't use as frequently. And I would like to be able to scroll through the categories.
Any suggestions or recommendations? If I had any knowledge about building apps, I would try to throw one together. Alas, I lack such knowledge. If anyone else is feeling inspired, I would be happy to chip in to support their efforts.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

chaosdefinesorder said:

apart from the "scrolling through the categories" it sounds like you are a prime candidate for Action Launcher... :victory:

One of the key features with AL is that you can set folders so that a single tap opens the "primary app", and an upwards swipe starting on that icon opens the folder. So you can have a folder called "Social", for example, where a single tap opens Facebook, but a swipe gives you the folder with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

You can also set widgets in place of the folder; i.e. an icon for Chrome, where a swipe opens the Bookmarks widget

This even works with the dock!

I've been using Action Launcher on my Nexus 10 and Nexus 5 since it came out (and Aviate on my Nexus 5 since beta) and I've simplified everything down to one home screen with the Dock having icons as described above for games, social, internet, media, photos

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I really appreciate the thorough response. I'll have to check this out tonight when I have some time to play around with it. I'll report back on how it goes. Thanks.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm running through Action Launcher now. This is a very different approach, and I like that. The one area where I think it falls short is in aesthetics. It doesn't look very refined to me. I'll keep experimenting with it for now, but I'm hoping someone has an idea for a widget I can just stick on my right screen.

Sent from my Nexus 7 2013 using Tapatalk

chaosdefinesorder said:

It's certainly a lot "fresher" than the more established brands due to being significantly newer. Things are likely to pick up again soon as the developer has time to work on updates again now.

One thing you can do with the "Pro" version that might be contributing to your aesthetics opinion is hide the little white square indicators on the icons... certainly makes a big difference in my opinion! I definitely prefer the alphabetically indexed single-scroll list in the app drawer once I got used to it!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Well I'm going to keep it on my devices and continue tinkering. I'll keep an eye on updates and development too. I appreciate the recommendation. Sometimes when the approach is different from everything else out there, it takes a few days to adjust to it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 2013 using Tapatalk