1. Apex launcher PRO:
a. Homescreen settings:
- potrait grid 9x7,
- horizontal margin: none,
- vertical margin: none,
- Number of screens: 1,
- Hide notification bar: on,
b. Dock settings: Off
c. Behavior settings:
- Swipe up: Show notification bar ( you can play around with this option )
d. Advanced settings
- Resize any widgets - On ( very important option for resizing widgets - you will need this )
- Overlapping widgets - On (add this option only if you really need it )
And now comes the best part - you can call it "The magic touch" I've used this amazing app:
With this app you can make your own widgets - from a simple clock widget, to a custom batter widget, or those that I've made its really easy
I've attached my files so that you can use them however you like
Extract those files to your internal or external sd card. Now if you followed so far, your homescreen should be clean - no widgets, no apps, no shortcuts...
Hold on your homescreen untill you get the Add option from the Apex launcher(or use the menu button) - then click Widgets - and go down to UCCW widgets - click on one of those sizes - it doesn't really matter which size you chose. The UCCW app should be open right now, now go to UZIP and find my attached files on your phone, open one of them.
There should appear a hand on your homescreen - click on it - and voila - there should be the same widget that I have on my phone just hold on on it and resize it so that it fits on your homescreen.
Now add the other 2 the same way. After that your homescreen should look like same as mine ( the order of the 3 widgets doesn't really matter).
All you need to do is setup the hotspots for those widgets. Hotspots are spots on your widgets that when clicked it opens up an app that you've attached to that spot ( you'll get it when you go trough the whole tutorial )
But first we will need to disable this feature within the UCCW app:
Open up UCCW app from the app drawer - click menu - Lock widgets(hotspot mode) - OFF - tthis option allows you to customize your hotspots on those widgets that you add on your homescreen, and of course to enable to customize the size, positions, colors, text, and everything else too you can even add new features to it, be creative
Go to your homescreen - click on one of those widgets - it should open up in the UCCW app, it should look like this (first attached picture):
There is a big button above the widget itself - click on it (Background), and change it to Hotposts - you should see something like this (second attached picture):
On the widget should appear at least 2 hotspots ( boxes with different colors ) with numbers on them 1 to 2 ( maybe even 3 ). Below the widget are the controls for those hotspots - click on the #1 if you want to change the hotspot for the box number 1, #2 for the second box, and so on...
After you selected the ( for example #1 ) first box, click on the hotspot button beside the #1, it should state "Pick hotspot type" - click on App - and chose whichever you app you want to open up after when clicked on it ( I hope this part is not too confusing ) - you can even change the size of it - click on width/height and change it, the "Position" option is so that you can position that hotspot on the widget - click on it and move the hotspot on the widget - you can use your finger or the options bellow.
Do the same for the other hotspost, and of course for the other 2 widgets too. When you have set up everything just click Back and you should be on your new homescreen.
For the Gmail part - click on the widget that has the Gmail app on it - now click on the button above the custom widget ("Background"), and scroll down until you find "Gmail1" - click on it. Now under the widget you will get the controls for it, swipe left until you get to the "Controls #5" - click on Account and chose which account you wan to use, now click on "Lable" and chose which notification you want to appear on the widget, I use "Inbox option" so you will get a notification count when you receive a new email.
You can customize those other options as well - you can add different colors to those tiles, different pictures, shapes, whatever you like
Now when everything is finished, open up UCCW app from the app drawer, and enable the hotspot function ( menu - Lock widgets(Hotspot mode) - ON ).
After that it's done enjoy your new homescreen - I hope that haven't forgotten something - if so ask me I would be more then happy to help you out
INFO: I've used the Apex launcher PRO - pro version because it enables the feature for overlapping widgets and many more (and I currently had that launcher installed ) but you can use whichever launcher you want - all you really need to do is to set up the best size for the homescreen - the bigger the better - with Apex launcher it was 9x7, but you can use or try other sizes too - as long as the widgets fit right on the screen - from one side to the other
Tomorrow I will try some other stuff out - if I'm happy with result I'll post it here to see if you like it maybe I will do a new tutorial for it
Don't stop costumizing and sorry for my bad English / Grammar xD