XWidgetSoft Forum

I’m fairly new to XWidget but have been playing around with tweaking some of the great existing skins. A few points related to these tweaks:
1. I prefer no leading zeros for the hour on the clock, so I've tweaked only widgets with a text clock. Images can't be changed.
2. I include the text of the current conditions. It may seem redundant, but if the icon shows rain, that could represent anything from mist to a heavy rain.
3. I include the last update time, though some of the widgets have this included already.
4. Likewise with the high and low temperatures.
5. I like to have two hotspots: one to update the weather and one to go directly to the weather details.
6. Even though the ZIP file has "ss" in the name, I haven't renamed the included widget, so exercise caution if you don't want to overwrite the standard skin.
7. With one exception, all these minor tweaks are to the widgets designed by Jimking. Thanks for the great work done on these.
8. For those who want to learn how to tweak, you can use these as examples. They're pretty simple. Good luck.

I couldn't include all the six widgets in a single zip, as it was too large, so the replies below will contain a screen shot and zip for each one. Thanks to Jimking for permission to post.

First is the GS Weather HD Transparent. Changes to this include:
1. Replaced some of the "sunny" and night images with ones from the Touchwiz Accuweather widget found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52994223&postcount=1. The "sunny" ones that came with the XWidget skin didn't show up well on my GS5. The clear ones for night mode show a moon image per the Touchwiz Accuweather widget. Note that these images are in the "wth" folder. The ones with "Default" in the name are the ones that were replaced, so you can just rename the images if you prefer the ones that came with the widget.
2. Changed the format of the current date slightly.
2. Added high and low temps below the current temp.
3. Moved the location text to the left side of the screen.
4. Added conditions text above the current temp.
4. Added the update date, time and icon below the location text.
5. Added hotspots: At the update date/time/icon to update the weather and on the current temp to go to the weather details.

This is Acer Liquid S1 Clone Widget V2. Tweaks to this include:
1. Changed format of current date slightly.
2. Added weather text below location text.
3. Added update date, time, and refresh icon below current temp.
4. Hotspot on weather icon to go to weather details and on update date/time/icon to update weather.

This is a tweaked version of My Atrix HD Widget v2. Tweaks:
1. Decreased the opacity in the circles to make them semi-transparent, especially the largest one on the left.
2. Replaced the battery % with the update date and time in the left circle.
3. Added the current weather text below the temperature in the middle circle.
4. Hotspots: Right circle to update weather, and center circle to go to weather details (though that should probably be reversed, since the it would make sense for the forecast screen to link to more details.
I love the three day forecast in the right circle. That's a great feature of this widget.

This is a tweaked version of ASUS Padfone 2 CW ORIGINAL. Tweaks:
1. Changed date format.
2. Added update date, time, and refresh icon below location text.
3. Added high-low temps below the current temp.
4. Hotspots: Update date/time/icon to update weather, and current temp to go to weather details.

One of my personal favorites is Nature Widget. I've always loved the GS3 and GS5 widgets, and this has a similar format. But it not only has some create graphics but also leaves enough transparency that the view of the wallpaper isn't impeded. My slight adjustments to this include:
1. Changed date format.
2. Added location text below date.
3. Added conditions text below location text.
4. Added hotspot on current temp to go to weather details. Weather update hotspot was already at update icon on bottom right.

This is the only one I've tweaked so far for which the original didn't come from Jimking. I used the version of the Galaxy S6 Lite or "Simple" developed by XDA member Aatif Bilal and found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/xwidget-samsung-galaxy-s6-weather-t3045314. The only reason I didn't use Jimking's version or the other ones on the XDA site is that the Lite one is the only one for which the clock is a text object and thus can have the hour's leading zero suppressed. Others can, of course, apply similar changes to the ones by Jimking if desired. My tweaks to the one from that site include:
1. Slightly increased clock shadow.
2. Added high and low temps.
3. Added conditions text below current temp.
4. Moved location icon and text slightly to left to avoid truncation.
5. Added hotspots at current temperature to go to weather details. Weather update hotspot was already at update icon on bottom right.

@sbs8331 you post these widgets to other sites/blog than here..?

If yes please do NOT forget give credits to the original uploader. Not only if you use my widgets, but in general..

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Understood. I have no plans to post elsewhere.

Update: I adjusted some of the widgets above to add the refresh icons and to put the hotspot to refresh over that icon and date/time. I also switched the two hotspots for the My Atrix HD Widget.

The mod version of the GS Weather HD Transparent is cool!
It will be posted in the app's gallery as soon as possible...

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Great! Thanks.

I've just made another update to that one. After looking at it, I didn't like the items in the lower left, off to themselves. I rearranged the update date, etc. and the weather text. I think it looks a little cleaner now. One of those situations where you walk away and then take another look.

I have a.problem, though. I had replaced the images that look like the sun. I replaced images 1, 2,.30, 33, and 34. However, it's now showing the sun at 9 PM. Can you let me know which of these images represent clear nights for which I should use a moon image? (You might want to delay posting this in the gallery until I get it corrected.)

Thank you.

About the weather icons read this:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4837

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Thanks. I need to extract more images from the Touchwiz widget and resize: they are 531x333, while this widget uses 700x420. I'll then incorporate them into my modified transparent widget and update accordingly. Thanks for the info. By the way, I don't have Photoshop or anything elaborate like that, but I found this site where a transparent png file can be easily resized for free: http://images.my-addr.com/resize_png_online_tool-free_png_resizer_for_web.php

OK. I updated the widget. In the "wth" folder, you can see the ones that were replaced, the originals having "_Default" in the name. You can also see the images that I extracted from the Touchwiz widget. I'll keep testing over the next couple of days as conditions change here. Thanks for the help!

Personally I use only GIMP for all my widgets:
http://www.gimp.org/

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Thanks. The GS Transparent widget seems to be working well. I tweaked it a little more, replacing the positions of a few items as can be seen on its post above. You can share if you want. All the assistance is appreciated.

I was ready to post it, but then I saw that the widget is >10Mb..
Keep in mind that in both galleries, pc and android, can be uploaded only widgets <10Mb.
It's the default uploading system and unfortunately can't be changed...

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Sorry. Didn't know. I took out all the unneeded images (the ones I downloaded originally and the ones that I had renamed as a backup) and got it down to 10.7. I'll have to see if there's something else I can do.

Suggestion:
You can use less weather images instead of 40, using the other tags for the weather.
Check here:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4837
It's the only and best way to decrease the widget's size. Making small widgets is not recommended, because on the phone's screen appear blur.

_________________
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