Advanced System Behavior patch brings multiple cards to Email and Messaging 30
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 9:37 am EDT
Sconix was already one of our favorite patch developers after last week’s release of the Advanced System Menus and Prefs patches for webOS 2.1. After this, he’s bumping right up near the top (we can’t pick just one favorite – you’re all awesome). Sconix’s most recently-released patch is the somewhat vaguely named “Advanced System Behavior” patch. While the name might not be clear, what the patch does amounts to awesomeness. We’re going to recommend you fire up Preware of WebOS Quick Install right now for this one.
In the Web browser you get power scroll. This open source feature from the still-in-beta Carbon Twitter client allows you to swipe up or down with two fingers to jump to the top or bottom of the page. Additionally, power scroll has been adapted with two fingers to the left to bring up history and two to the right to open your bookmarks list (a standard one-fingered gesture-area back swipe will take you back to the page you were viewing).
Email and Messaging have gained support for multiple cards. Tapping on an email or conversation will open it right there as is normal, but tapping and holding will open it in a new card (Email currently switches back to the list view, but fixing that is underway). Additionally, if you receive a new email or message while viewing another, opening it from the notification will open in a new card, thus not interrupting your workflow. It’s so webOSy. Messaging has also received new timestamps (small font and light gray) and to prevent premature messages requires you to press the physical Enter key twice to send (on screen is still just one).
Lastly, one of our favorite patches has found its way into Advanced System Behavior: Inverted Keyboard Brightness. The concept is fairly simple: as you turn down the brightness of the screen, the keyboard brightness increases. The reasoning is that you ramp up your screen brightness in bright light where you can see the keyboard, and pull it back down in darkness so as to not blind yourself, but where the keyboard is not lit externally.
This is just the first go at Advanced System Behavior, and it’s been noted that new features will be added in the future (possibly conflicting with existing patches). Like Sconix’s other Advanced System patches, Behavior is not update-safe, so be sure to remove it before applying any webOS updates. Also, as always, patches distributed via WebOS Internals done free-of-charge and open source, with only your donations helping to support this work.
Source: PreCentral Forums, WebOS Internals
30 Comments
First? This is sweet!! Downloading and installing now!
New cards for messaging have been available for webOS 2.1 for sometime...
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-patches/277032-patch-messaging-advanc...
In addition, I would rather NOT tap-and-hold to get a new card but always get them.
I know it should probably be obvious but you might want to mention that this patch is only available to webOS 2.1 users (or 2.01, not sure which it is). It can't be installed if you have 1.4.5 on your phone.
Thanks for the write-up!
85 is too high for screen brightness in my opinion. I keep my screen around 12 to save battery life, but the keyboard is blinding at that level. Might be a deal-breaker for me on this patch. I was really enjoying fixed brightness at 25.
Does anyone really need anything above 50 on keyboard brightness? I have found no need to go above 25, but I could compromise and have the keyboard brightness max out at 50 if some folks need that.
i have my screen brightness at 1 about 99% of the time, and i use the inverted brightness patch, at first it does seem extremely bright, probably cause you're not use to it being so bright, kinda like walking out of a dark room/area into bright sunlight, but your eyes adjust.
i did try using the fixed keyboard brightness patches but sometimes it just seem too dim.
in regards to this patch you dont need to turn on the function that is if theres a toggle switch, but not sure if it will conflict w/ your current patch though.
100% bright all the time
Really great Sconix. Keep up the great work!
I wish the patch for email windows was available for v1.4.5 like the patch New Card per Convo for messaging.
Agreed! But what would be even better is I could just get a phone with 2.1 on it. I would try the upgrade but it looks just a little too technical for me.
There are simple directions available to upgrade to 2.1... Trust me if I can do it anyone can. Most of it is done for you honestly. Give it a shot you won't regret it!
I'm running 2.1 on my Sprint Pre- and its awesome.
Excellent news! Here's hoping WebOS 2.1 either makes it's way to my Pre+ or becomes safer to metadoctor on soon..
Many thanks Sconix for moving forward with excellent patches.
When I first heard power scroll I imagined something more like a high speed scroll, rather than jump-to-top (or bottom). Perhaps I'm still mis-understanding, but, to me, a real power scroll would be set up so that the height of the page being viewed would be scaled to the height of the phone screen, so that if you power scrolled from the top of the screen to 1/4 of the way down the screen, you'd be 1/4 of the way down the page, 1/2 screen - 1/2 page, full screen - full page.
I also like the concept of hitting the ENTER button twice on the physical keyboard for sending messages. It doesn't happen often, but occasionally when I am trying to backspace to correct something I hit the ENTER key by mistake. Then I am frustrated because I sent a message w/an error in it that could confuse the recipient.
Excellent work!
Really hope he does update it to fix the tap/hold not opening to the new card after its launched. That's my only issue. I tweeted him about it but no response. At least it sounds like from this article that he is aware..
Seriously Anna Schrader with H/P should contact him for remote webOS developer Job.
"Additionally, power scroll has been adapter"...shouldn't that be 'adapted'?
Yes, it should be.
"It’s so webOSy."
Behold, a new Mantra!
Love it!
Waiting to try these out on a Vzn Palm 3.
Sconix is creating what amounts to the closest thing WebOS has to a custom ROM.
When are we going to see all of these patches integrated into one large system patch that fundamentally changes/adds to the functionality of WebOS in one fell swoop?
I've seen him say he's not gonna do that because updating would take to long and not everybody wants everything. For instance I don't use the "app menu" one and have difficulty understanding why anyone would want to.
Hooray for Preware's saved package list!
Its main point is to make the accessing the app menu easier when using by one hand, since your thumb reaches better the right corner than left. And true with some apps / sometimes you want to access device menu, well thats why the latest version can toggle the menu width by tap-n-hold so its also "configurable" :)
So the screen capture says "Sprint" - I'm guessing that's a Pre- running 2.1
Any Comments as to how it's doing ?, Speed, function etc,I haven't decided of I want to force 2.1 on my Sprint Pre- yet, or see what HP/Palm has for us in the 'coming weeks'.
Actually, that's a Pre 2 on Sprint. :D
I'm on a Sprint Pre- and its amazing. (overclocked at 1.005ghz running 2.1)... Less lagging than 1.45. Voice dialing, flash(lags a bit at times), and sprint nav up and running smoothly.
Like someone said earlier, HP needs to hire Sconix. They are one of the main reasons my Pre minus is manageable!
CAREFUL -- This patch may cause unexpected loss of calling ability
I noticed today that I couldn't call anyone who was in my address book. Originally, it looked like I couldn't make a phone call, but later I realized what happened.
I just activated a Pre 2 which I unlocked, then put on the Bell Network, so I was very concerned that I had lost my phone with no one to turn to.
Once I realized I could receive calls, and call some numbers and not others, I knew it was software and figured I'd doctor the phone and should be okay, but then I put two and two together. I had installed Advanced System Behavior and Advanced System Prefs - Phone Prefs just today, and it was the only major thing I'd done since my phone was working earlier. I looked in the phone preferences, but couldn't find anything obvious to fix this problem, so I uninstalled the two patches and got my phone ability back.
I may have missed something. Is there a phone preference I should have set?
The patch clearly says it needs the framework patch. Your sympton points to that you don't have it installed.
Derek, which wallpaper is that? I (think) it looks awesome!
What's up with the SPAM?
Either way, I love Advanced System Behavior and wish HP would take advantage of the ideas since I suspect this technology resides in GPL or GPL2 status. Keep up the great work! Sorli...
There appears to be some bug in the landscape rotation of windows opened by holding down an email for instance - the original email list can be viewed landscape but the card opened cannot. Also in the card view the original list view card rotates but any 'child' card does not. Also as noted in the article the view reverting to the list view is annoying. If these things can be fixed it will be fabulous.