Total Launcher Widgets Guide: Advanced Features for Android Customization

Widgets within Total Launcher serve as essential dynamic components for Android customization, delivering advanced features and highly adaptable wrapper containers for applications, folders, and system status displays. Integrating these functional objects into a custom setup elevates the homescreen layout by merging aesthetic appeal with immediate accessibility. Utilizing these objects allows for deep layout design modifications, effectively transforming static screens into interactive, floating dashboards. Accessing and configuring these tools requires entering Edit Mode by long-pressing an empty screen area, tapping the Toggle Edit Mode icon, and selecting the Object Design menu to open the Widget selection dialog.

This chapter guides new and intermediate Total Launcher (TL) users through the types, functions, and customization options of widgets within the launcher environment. Widgets in Total Launcher provide both essential dynamic functionality and highly customizable wrapper containers for holding applications, windows, folders, launcher actions, application shortcuts, and system status displays.

In Total Launcher, widgets are one of the three main object categories, alongside Layout and Graphic. A widget is an individual object with an independent, specialized design and features for its specific purpose.

Total Launcher offers two primary categories of widgets:

• Built-in Widgets - created by the launcher developer
• Application Widgets - third-party Android widgets offered by applications installed on the user's device

To locate this dialog, Enter Edit Mode (Long press an empty area → Toggle Edit Mode icon) > Tap the ''Edit Off'' icon in the lower right to change it to an ''Edit On'' icon Object Design menu (top) + > Widget. This dialog will be seen. The selections are explained below.

To add an Application Widget, enter ''Edit On'' mode [long-press an empty area on the Page, Drawer, or Window] and select Add (+) icon , then select Widget from the Add dialog list. A visual thumbnail of all widgets will display in non-alphabetical order. Application Widgets will contain only widgets for apps installed on the user's device.

Widgets can be added to a page, sliding drawer, or window. Folders will not accept widgets.

• As Floating Pop-ups - A major strength of Total Launcher is the ability to place widgets inside a window. Since a window is also known as a “pop-up (floating) page,” this allows widgets to appear anywhere on the screen via gestures, shortcuts or even hidden (transparent) until an action-on-tap is activated on a page area.
• Scrolling - Windows themselves cannot be made scrollable, but widgets such as an App Drawer or a specific 3rd party widget like an RSS reader (placed within them) which have native scrolling functionality will scroll correctly.
• Widget Stacking - Multiple windows can stack widgets on top of one another. This allows users to “switch” between different widgets (like weather and calendar) by creating a transparent image/graphic object as the action trigger to open one window and close another.

There are fourteen built-in widgets in Total Launcher:

• **App Drawer** (jump to full discussion) displays applications installed on the device, often functioning as a comprehensive app group with a highly customizable layout, grid/list or columns/rows with various sorting options such as
  • default as controlled by main menu > launcher options > behavior > app drawer section
  • smart based on frequency of use, time of day, and other smart measures
  • user defined
  • name
  • offers a full menu bar

• **App Drawer (pager)** (jump to full discussion) is a newer type of app drawer widget which scrolls horizontally. It differs from the app drawer widget.

• **App Group** (jump to full discussion) functions similarly to the App Drawer but allows for grouping its items (apps, windows, folders, shortcuts) by user-defined criteria (mostly folders). It offers a customizable layout, icons, labels, and background.

• **Contacts** (jump to full discussion) displays user contacts, based on the device's contact manager, and can be set to grid or list type. It supports long-click calls and allows setting a default graphic for items without a photo.

• **Media Controller** (jump to full discussion) provides controls for a media application which supports the Android Media Controller API (e.g., Google Music, Poweramp). It also allows selecting a target app, customizing control button size, text size/color, icon color, and using a foreground image (skin). It can display the currently running media app even if a specific target app is not selected.

• **Page Indicator** (jump to full discussion) shows the user's current position (here a 15 page setup) within the setup pages and can use customizable images or colors for normal, current, and home pages.

• **Analog Clock** (jump to full discussion) displays the time and allows a user to set a time zone and customize the appearance of the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand (which can be hidden using a transparent color).

• **Compass** (jump to full discussion) displays a compass functionality. It provides a basic image of the compass needle (skin) and supports applying a color filter to that skin.

• **Circle Indicator** (jump to full discussion) shows the current status for a selected resource such as battery, RAM usage, storage, or SD card usage.

• **Drawer Handle** (jump to full discussion) creates an expanded trigger area to pull out a specific sliding drawer (left, right, top, or bottom). It requires selecting the target sliding drawer and can use a custom image instead of the default arrow icon.

• **Slider** (jump to full discussion) offers on-screen control of screen brightness or volumes (media, ring, notification, alarm, or call)

• *Photo Slide** (jump to full discussion) is a photo show wrapper container that sequentially or randomly displays images in color or forces grayscale from a designated folder at user-selected intervals. The container's skin and corner radius can be modified.

• **RSS reader** (jump to full discussion) or Really Simple Syndication for news, podcasts, other channels or aggregation services. The container will support both images with text and text-only, depending on the aggregator's setup. It accepts standard URLs with an unverified number of available slots (up to 20 have been tested).

• **Checklist** (jump to full discussion) is a widget to help users manage and track tasks. It offers manual addition, editing, and sorting.

• **Application** - (jump to full discussion) Every device has 3rd-party applications for varying purposes, and application developers frequently offer to present their app's data in a customized format. If the user selects this in the dialog, Total Launcher extracts the container and provides placement for the user, along with some additional customization.

Below is a more detailed discussion of each built-in widget. Understanding the differences between similar widgets, such as App Drawer, App Drawer (pager), App Group, and Contacts, is difficult. If the descriptions below still leave questions, this spreadsheet representation Tap to enlarge may be more helpful for those interested.

The bottom Menu Bar of the widget is the control center for finding and organizing apps. It contains the Add, Sort, Tag, and Search icons.

To customize the visual appearance of this bar (background, icon sets, text color/typeface), enter Edit On > select the App drawer (highlight) > select Object Design Menu (top) > Options .

The Search icon on the bottom menu bar offers two modes:

• Index Search - Offers a selection of initial letters, numbers, or special characters to jump to specific items.
  • Keyboard Search - The 3-dot icon at the bottom opens a full keyboard search.
  • Folder Support - Search can optionally include items contained inside folders. Toggle this via Main Menu > Launcher Options > Behavior > Search in folder.

The Menu Bar allows a managed Sort icon.

• Temporary Sorting: Sort momentarily by Name, Recently installed, or Recent updates.
  • Persistent Sorting: Defined in the widget's Shared Options > Sort order. Options include:
    • Name - Alphabetical.
    • User Defined -Allows manual rearrangement of apps and folders in Edit Mode.
    • Smart - Ranks items based on usage patterns (time of day, location, headset status, etc.). The number of “smart picks” can be set from 1 to 25.
• Tags - This allows users to group applications.
  • Built-in Tags - Includes categories such as Productivity, Folder, and Hidden. Additional categories (Maps, News, Social, Games, etc.) can be enabled via Main Menu \> Launcher Options \> Behavior \> Built-in tags.
  • Untagged Items - An option exists to display only items that have no tag assigned.

The design options are, again, available once the widget is selected and the Option icon is tapped.

• View Type - Toggle between Grid type (customizable columns/rows from 1 to 16) or List type (vertical list with icon and name).
• Scrolling - Vertical scrolling. Options include System scroll animation, Snap scroll (prevents items from being cut off), Hide scrollbar, or Quick scroll (see demo here A nice alpha-visual scrolling search effect: )

Users have detailed control over the visual presentation of apps. These can be applied globally via the Shared Options tab.

• Icon Customization
  • Size & Padding - Adjust pixel size and margins (padding).
  • Effects - Adjust Opacity, Saturation (0% = grayscale), or apply a Color Filter (overlay).
  • Dragging - Individual icons within the widget can be dragged out and dropped onto a page layout.
• Label Customization
  • Text - Toggle Show label on/off, select Typeface, and adjust Font size.
  • Scaling - Scale X(%) controls the horizontal spread of the text.
  • Shadows - Configurable Shadow color, Radius (depth), and Offset X/Y (direction).

• Widget Background - The overall background of the drawer.
• Menu Bar - Specific background for the bar as well as individual bar object icons, menu typeface, and color.

• Animation - Located in the Edit dialog, this controls the effect when the app opens. Options include System default, No animation, Fast, Fade in, Popup, or directional slides (Flying to/Sliding from).

• Badge Counts - This is located in the “Shared Options” tab. A visual indicator (a red circle with a number) that shows the number of unread notifications or new items waiting for the user in the specific app. These can be customized directly within the widget's Shared Options.

The App drawer (pager) is a distinct, built-in widget that offers an alternative to the standard 'App drawer' for displaying and organizing applications. It is designed as a customizable container that holds user-selected apps and folders, featuring either vertical or horizontal scrolling. Its primary difference lies in its presentation and built-in functionalities, which can provide a more structured and efficient user experience.

The App drawer (pager) can be accessed and added by entering Edit Mode > the Add icon (+) > Widget, then navigating the list of built-in widgets and selecting it.

While the standard “App drawer” is highly customizable, the App drawer (pager) widget provides a different structural approach and unique features. A user may prefer this format for the following reasons:

• Paging versus Scrolling: The fundamental difference is the paginated layout. Instead of a single continuous list, applications are organized across distinct pages that are navigated with a swipe. This can improve organization by allowing users to group apps by category or frequency of use on separate pages. Quick scrolling is also offered as in this demo ⇔ of both vertical and horizontal scrolling.
• Built-in Search Functionality: The 'App drawer (pager)' widget includes an integrated app search feature. This provides a significant advantage for users who want to quickly find an application without scrolling through pages or returning to the home screen to use a separate search widget.
• Display Customization: This widget allows for specific display configurations that differ from the standard drawer.
  • An option exists to display applications as a text-only list, without icons. This is beneficial for users seeking a minimal and clean interface.
• Sorting Options: It can be configured to show the most recently used applications at the top of the list, providing quicker access to frequently opened apps.

The App Group widget primarily displays a focused selection of icons, relying heavily on user organization and selection. This selection can include applications, windows, folders, or shortcuts.

The fundamental purpose of the App Group is to act as a grouping container as determined by the user. Once set by the user, it will not automatically update.

• Tagging: App Group differs from App Drawer in that tagging is not available within the drawer since there is no menu system. Tagging can still be done through the App Drawer but cannot be set anew within the App Group. This should not be a significant loss when deciding to use this widget, since the quasi-tag system by group already populates the widget with the desired objects/folders.

The App Group widget provides extensive control over its layout, supporting both grid and list formats:

• Layout Type: The widget can be toggled between Grid type or List type.
• Grid Dimensions: When set to Grid type, users can define the number of Columns (ranging from 1 to 16) and Rows (ranging from 1 to 16) to fit the required space on the page, window, or sliding drawer.

*Scrolling: The layout supports vertical scrolling, which is essential for displaying numerous items. Users can customize the scrolling experience using options such as system scroll animation, snap scroll (to ensure items settle without being cut off), hide scrollbar. Notably, the App Group currently does not support horizontal scrolling (paging) like the specialized App Drawer (pager).

• Menu: Search, Tag, Sort: No menu system for tag, search, or sort is available.

App Group shares the rich visual customization settings found in the App Drawer when in Edit On mode and selected:

• Aesthetics: Customization is accessed by selecting the widget and tapping the Options icon (gear) in the top menu bar.
• Icon Settings: Detailed control over icon appearance is provided, including adjustment of Icon size, Icon opacity(%), Icon saturation(%) (to control color intensity), Icon padding (margins around the icon as a percentage of size), and applying an Icon color filter.
• Shared Options: There is no Shared Options tab in the Option Edit dialog. See below for options which are editable within the widget.
• Label Settings: The label (the text beneath the icon) can be enabled or disabled. Further control includes choosing the Typeface (font), setting the Font size, and modifying the horizontal spread using Scale X(%). Shadow effects for the label are also available through settings such as Shadow color, Shadow radius, and Shadow offset X/Y.
• Background and Spacing: The appearance of the container and the items within it can be fully customized, including setting the overall widget Background and background for individual items (Item background, Item background (pressed), Item background (focused)). Users can also manage spacing using Margins around the widget and Item spacing between the icons. If no margins or spacing are set, items may fill the entire grid area, covering the main widget background color.
• Animation
  • Enter Animation: This is a widget animation which occurs when returning to the page occupied by the widget.
  • See more detailed discussion here.

The Contacts widget can operate in either a Grid or List format. Switching off the “Grid type” option makes it a list view.

• Content Display: By default, it displays all contacts, or can be restricted to display only contacts with a phone number by turning off the Show even if no number option.
• Grouping: The widget supports contact groups based on the device service's tagging categories. This grouping can be turned on/off in the widget options.
• Layout: When using the Grid type, the user can customize the layout by setting the number of Columns and Rows. If grid is set to off, the display will list the contacts in a single column. See below for sorting options.
• Sorting/Interaction: The widget supports Family name first ordering, which is applicable to Western style names. If not selected, it defaults to first name.
• Dialing: Direct calling by Long-click call to the contact's default number is available. This means tapping and holding the contact's image/number initiates a call if the user has previously granted the launcher permission to access the phone. A single tap opens the contact data page in the phone app.

The Contacts widget integrates photos associated with contacts through the system contact manager.

• Photo: The photo shown for each contact defaults to the one in the contact app. If a contact item does not have a photo associated with it, the contact image defaults to an icon with a single capital letter of the contact's name based on sorting order. The user can set a Default photo within the widget's options for a user-selected icon, image, color, dynamic color, or shape to be used for all contacts lacking a contact app photo.
• Aesthetics: The size and spacing of the displayed contact icons/images are adjustable via icon size (in pixels), icon padding (margins around the icon expressed as a percentage of icon size), and the icon rounded corner.

Customization options for the Contacts widget are accessed via the options button (gear icon) while the widget is selected in Edit Mode.

• Layout and Scrolling
  • The widget supports features for smooth navigation, including turning on system scroll animation.
    • Snap scroll ensures that items are not cut off on the top or bottom when the scrolling motion settles.
    • Quick scroll brings up a vertical alphabet the user can slide through to reach the contact area when the left or right widget edges are pressed and held. Quick action by the user is necessary; otherwise, the scroll will advance automatically.
    • The scrollbar on the right side can be hidden using the hide scrollbar option.
• Labels (Text)
  • Labels can be hidden by turning off Show label.
  • Customization includes selecting the typeface (font), adjusting the font size, and modifying the horizontal spread using scale X(%).
  • Text color and shadow effects of shadow color, shadow radius (depth of the shadow), and shadow offset X/Y (the horizontal and vertical direction of the shadow) are fully configurable.
• Label lines setting determines the number of lines available for the label (1 to 3).
• Background

The *Background setting provides complete color, dynamic color, icon pack, shape, image, or dynamic image selection.

• The background for individual items (item background), including states when pressed or focused (item background (pressed) and item background (focused)), can also be customized as covered in the general background above.
• The distance between items is controlled by Item spacing (in pixels).
• See Background for more details if desired.
• Margins in this widget apply to the manageable space within the Contact container's 4 boundaries.
• See Understanding Margins in Total Launcher for a full explanation of how margins for simple objects (icon, text, image) may differ from container objects (folder, sliding drawer, widget, window) and how Total Launcher's “Item spacing” (aka “padding”) plays a part in visual appearance.
• Menu Bar
• The bottom menu bar used for controlling the widget contents is highly customizable in terms of color, dynamic color, icon pack, shape, and image. The appearance of text on the menu bar is adjustable via menu text color (can be invisible if desired) and menu text typeface.
• Menu bar elements include: (not discussed individually are add icon, star on icon, star off icon, dial icon, sort icon, group icon, search icon, and clear menu icon
• Menu background is customizable in the same manner as the Contact container background discussed above.
• Animation
• Enter animation for the Contacts widget actually occurs when the user completes a call and returns to the open Contact widget.
• See Page and Object Animation and UI Object Animation for an overview of animations available.

Configuration for the Media Controller is handled through its dedicated options menu:

• Target Application: Users can specify the target application (on the user's device) for the widget to control.
• Control Box Size: Sets the height of the control buttons, measured in pixels.
• Control Box Offset: Adjusts the vertical positioning of the controls.
• Hide on no session: If checked, this setting will remove the widget from the screen. Conversely, the widget will “pop up” when the target player starts.

The Media Controller offers detailed options for customizing its appearance:

• Metadata Text: Text size (in pixels), text color, and typeface control the appearance of the title and artist displayed by the controller.
• Control Icons: control buttons and the playing animation icon color is controlled by icon color setting
• Skin (Foreground Image): This foreground image covers the album art and text but is layered to lay under the control button
• Container Aesthetics:
  • Like other built-in widgets, the Media Controller allows customization of the Background and Margins.
    • If a background is used, the album area is replaced.
  • The rounded corner radius setting allows the widget container modification from a 90-degree corner to a circle.

Customization options are accessed by selecting the widget (press and hold it in Edit Mode On) and tapping the Options icon (cog wheel) in the object design menu at the top of the screen.

All customization for the page indicator elements uses the widget's Edit dialog, which opens the launcher's standard Edit dialog, consisting of Reset, Color, Dynamic color, Icon pack, Shape, Image, and Dynamic image. These options are fully discussed here.

For the Page indicator function, the above customizations are accessed by selecting the specific element of the indicator to modify:

• Background: The background of the widget itself
• Page (current): The page dot/marker indicating the current page the user is viewing.
• Page (normal): The page dot/marker either preceding or following the currently viewed page (i.e., not the active page).
• Home (current): The page dot/marker when the page being viewed is the designated home page.
• Home (normal): The page dot/marker of the designated home page when the home page is not being viewed.
  • The “home page” is user-designated in the Page Edit dialog as shown here.

All customization for the analog clock elements uses the widget's Edit dialog, which opens the launcher's standard Edit dialog, consisting of Reset, Color, Dynamic color, Icon pack, Shape, Image, and Dynamic image. These options are fully discussed here. The features to be customized with the above options are:

• Time Zone: Users can set the specific time zone the clock is to display, which defaults to the user's device setting. The user can manually select from over 500 locations in the global time zones.
• Clock Hand Customization: The appearance of each clock hand is individually configurable:
  • Hour hand: Most users will customize this using a color or image. The hour hand can be made invisible (hidden) using the hex color code #00000000.
  • Minute hand: See the above hour hand discussion.
  • Second hand: See the above hour hand discussion.
• Aesthetics
  • Background: The overall background of the widget would be the clock face. Users should find suitable images to import into Resource Images in the launcher for customization.
    • The default background is transparent but can be modified with any of the six options above.
  • Margins: The margins default to 5 pixels on all sides. Increasing the margins on all sides would reduce the space available for the hands, making them occupy less space. Also, manipulation of the margins could be used as an offset to shift the center point (fulcrum). The margin modification does not affect the background display.
• Animation
  • Enter animation for the analog clock widget. See more discussion on enter animation here.
    • If the clock is on the designated home page and the phone is on the home page, the enter animation is affected after a system doze and “awakened” by the power button or phone unlock.
    • Returning to home screen from exiting 'recent apps', enter animation activates.
    • 'Quick Exit' swipe: swiping up from the bottom navigation bar wipes the immediate app to background and brings forth the home screen, in which the enter animation also activates, creating a clean transition.

The Compass provides directional functionality.

All customization for compass elements has access to the widget's Edit dialog, which accesses the launcher's Edit dialog, in the following manner:

These options, discussed below, allow users to fully define the visual appearance of the directional elements and the container itself:

• Compass skin: This critical setting defines “an image for the compass skin” or more commonly known as the needle, where a user can substitute a user-selected graphic for the default needle or display.
  • Icon pack - Icons could, if appropriate, serve as a compass needle. These would be from the user's device or the Play Store. See here.
  • Shape - Easily, a user-specific shape could be customized. See here.
  • Image - Be creative in selecting an image for the compass needle. North is the top of the image! See here.
• Color: A color can be applied to filter (draw over the skin) the image, providing control over the final appearance of the compass graphic. If using a color, an opaque selection will obscure the skin, whereas a transparent selection (where the # begins with 00 through 99) would cover the compass needle. This uses the launcher's Color Picker utility shown here.
  • Dynamic color: This option will cause the skin/needle colors to harmonize or contrast with changing wallpapers in accordance with Android Material You standards. See the TL screenhere* or the concept discussed here.
• Background: The background of the widget can be customized.
  • The default background is transparent but can be modified with any of the six options shown above.
• Margins: The margins default to 0 pixels on all sides. Increasing the margins on all sides would reduce the space available for the skin/needle, allowing it to occupy less space. Also, manipulation of the margins could be used as an offset to shift the skin/needle position. The margin modification does not affect the background display.
• Animation
  • Enter animation for the analog clock widget. See Page and Object Animation and UI Object Animation for an overview of animations available.
    • If the compass is on the designated home page and the phone is viewing on the home page, the enter animation is effected after a system doze and “awakened” by the power button or phone unlock.

The Circle indicator configuration allows users to select which system data is represented and how the indicator is displayed. The selection of which data value to present is made in the Target option of the dialog.

Customization options for the widget container and indicator appearance are:

• Color - Sets the color of the displayed graphic elements using either the launcher's Color Picker utility or Dynamic Colors. Learn about the dynamic color scheme here.
• Background - Defines the background selections (color, dynamic color, icon pack, shape, image, and dynamic image) for the widget container. See Background for more details if desired.
• Margins: Allows adjustment of the margins surrounding the widget in its container. See Understanding Margins in Total Launcher.

The customization options for the drawer handle widget are specific to its function of linking to a sliding drawer and styling the trigger element.

• Target: This setting specifies A sliding drawer which this widget works for. The user will select the specific sliding drawer the handle will activate: • left • right • top • bottom
• Image: Select a substitute for the default chevron (<∧>∨) in these launcher resources:
  • Icon pack - See here.
  • Shape - Easily, a user-specific shape could be customized. See here.
• Color filter: A color can be set to draw over the drawer handle. This uses the launcher's Color Picker described here.
• Background: Defines the background selections (color, dynamic color, icon pack, shape, image and dynamic image) for the widget container. See Background for more details if desired.
• Margins: Allows adjustment of the margins surrounding the widget container. See here.

The default slider is basic. A horizontal line with a “thumb” or bulb that can be grabbed and slid for adjustment. All visual aspects of this object can be modified in the widget's edit dialog:

• Control - Select the specific target to control shown below. All target measures are visual adjustments along a predetermined length (which itself can be scaled), but there are noranges offered.
• Screen brightness - The device's surface illumination
• Media volume - the music, videos, games, and other multimedia applications
• Ring volume - if the device has phone capabilities, the volume of the ring
• Notification volume - the master control for all sounds used in notifications. If the user device has individual notification volume settings, this will override that setting for immediate control.
• Alarm volume - Master control for any application which utilizes the “alarm” setting
• Call volume - If the device has phone capabilities, the speaker volume during a call.
• Thumb size - This is the bulb or solid circle (default) representing the current point within the range. Size range is 0 - 200.
• Thumb skin - This is the bulb or solid circle (default) which can be user-replaced
• Track thickness - The thickness of the line along which the thumb (bulb) will travel. Thickness range is 0 - 200.
• Track color - The visible color of the portion of the track to the right of the thumb position. Some may call this “unused capacity”. This is through Color or Dynamic Color.
• Progress color - The visible color of the portion of the track to the left of the thumb position, set via Color or Dynamic Color.
• Background - Defines the background selections (color, dynamic color, icon pack, shape, image and dynamic image) for the widget container. See Background for more details if desired.
• Margins: Allows adjustment of the margins surrounding the widget in its container. See here for a better understanding.

uiTLM has successfully tested these types ot images support:

Customization features available in the widgets Edit dialog are:

• Photo folder - User-selectable folder on the device
• Change interval (sec) - Image will sequence within a user-selected range of 6 seconds to 60 seconds
• Skin - The skin is the actual viewing area of the container, making this option questionable. A best use is with a highly transparent color or shape with color to give the image a consistent or gradient hue. The Icon pack option could be used as a “logo,” but any insert will be centered and is not movable.
• Rounded corner radius - The widget's container defaults to a square but can be resized by tap-hold and grab. The user can choose to round corners by selecting a desired radius, ranging from 0 (square) to 300 (circle). Again, the diameter can be adjusted, even making an ellipse.
• Disable 3D animation - This option disables the default presentation of images in 3D animation consisting of randomly selected launcher animations such as cube, sliding (4 directions), flip, and more. Images will only change by sliding in four random directions.
• Keep photo centered - This keeps all images (some peripheral objects may not be shown), while the default shows images larger than the widget's container in a pan-type view randomly roaming the full image.
• Random pick - Presentation of images defaults to the directory's alpha-numerical order. Activating this option will cause random viewing.
• Grayscale - This option, if activated, displays each image as a gray-scaled image.
• Background - This offers the generic Background options of the launcher, which is of questionable use since the image itself occupies the full container. However, using Color in a transparent format (where A of ARGB is 00) may provide an acceptable tint to the images shown. See here.
• Margins: Allows adjustment of the margins surrounding the widget in its container. See here.

The Options dialog offers initial setup

• Items - This option offers the same item management as the widget container's “Edit” pencil icon. While it is possible to manage the items from this option dialog, the customary management will be done in the widget itself.
• Auto-delete - Check this to completely remove the item from the list if checked. If not checked and the item is selected and deleted, the item contents will remain but have a –strikeout through the contents–.
• Text color - This sets the color of all text content in the list items.
• Background - Defines the background of the widget container. See here.
• Margins: Allows adjustment of the margins surrounding the widget in its container. See here.

The following describes the everyday use and management of the checklist widget:

• Edit Pencil Icon Item Management:

The item entry dialog offers the following options:

• Add - Tap to open the Checklist dialog and enter the item description. Then click “Cancel” or “OK”
• Edit - The user must tap the checklist item to select (highlight) it, then edit the item's contents. Then click “Cancel” or “OK”
• Delete - The user must tap the checklist item to select (highlight) it, then tap “Delete” to delete the item. The user is returned to the listing.
• Delete All - Tap this item to fully delete all items on the checklist. There is no confirmation request. Be cautious.
• Up - Select the list item to highlight it, then tap up to move the item one item up.
• Down - Select the list item to highlight it, then tap down to move the item one item down.

The Application Widget serves as a container for third-party widgets provided by other apps installed on the user's device (e.g., Weather, Calendar, Music Player). Total Launcher extracts these standard Android views for placement by the user in the setup.

The image shows Page 6 of 13 of the application widgets on the device used to capture the image. It is shown to provide the reader with sample view the application widget dialog. These application widgets may not be on any user's device. A user's device will only show a list of application widgets installed on their device.

Android application developers will encode widget containers for specialized data display setups for their applications. When these are available, with the application Total Launcher extracts and displays each in the application widget dialog for the user to select and install on a page, drawer, or window.

Each application widget developer provides customization opportunities for their respective widgets. However, Total Launcher, in managing an application widget, focuses on the visual presentation of the wrapper container. The dialog for the application widget Option Edit is shown below

• Rounded corner radius - The widget's container defaults to a square but can be resized by tap-holding and grabbing a container corner. The user can choose to have corners rounded by selecting the desired radius, with a range of 0 (default for the original widget) to 575 (which can be a horizontal pill, circle, or vertical pill depending on how the widget container is sized).
• Opacity - This allows the user to control how much transparency is applied when viewing the underlying content, in this case, the application widget. The launcher option provides a slider from 0 (opaque, with container content fully blocked) to 100 (fully transparent). This option will apply the effect to the entire widget container, meaning overall colors will be fully visible (100), muted (50), or the content blocked (0). Most likely, meaningful use of this option would be in combination with either the background option of color or dynamic color to provide a tonal quality to the widget container

• Widget settings - This dialog appears for any Application Widget. However, it can only be activated by a user if the application developer has enabled the configuration feature. It will not work on every application widget, as shown with the notification in the image below.

• Background - Defines the background of the widget container. For complete discussion on background see Background.
• Margins: Allows adjustment of the margins surrounding the widget in its container. For complete discussion on setting margins, see Understanding Margins in Total Launcher.

There is a functional difference between resizing and scaling a widget in how they affect the widget's background size. Resizing the widget frame (dragging the corner handles) changes the container size, but the content inside does not automatically stretch to fill the new space. If the widget content appears too small or floats in empty space after resizing, use the rotate-transform icon (then tap its Transform button and use the top slider [10-100]) to zoom the widget with its contents, which will not change the background size.

• Resize - Changes the boundaries of the container.
• Scale - Zooms the widget content and its container (background).

Application widgets retain their native functionality. If a widget contains a scrollable list (such as a generic RSS reader or Calendar), it will intercept touch events. Swiping directly on the widget will scroll the list content rather than swiping the launcher page.

It is critical to remember that Total Launcher only saves the placeholder for Application Widgets, not the widget or its internal settings when a backup is made.

When restoring a backup, the specific configuration of the third-party widget (e.g., the specific city in a weather widget or the account in a mail widget) is not restored. The user must tap the placeholder to reinitialize the widget and manually reapply its internal settings unless the widget's developer has provided a save-setting or restore feature.