Option for having several menus

[Rom1-GoPlay]

Hello, I just downloaded Pie Launcher, an I already love it !

This is not exactly an issue but a feature suggestion.
I would love having several menus (by menu, I mean the ring of apps) and I have an idea on how it could work:
An horizontal list of "modes" made by the user at the bottom of the home screen. The user would be able to select 1 "mode" and changing the selected mode by touching another. An depending on which mode is selected, the ring menu (sorry, I don't really know how you call it) would show another set of apps !

For exemple, a user could have "modes" like: "work", "play", "watch"...
And this would help to focus on the activity we are doing !

[markusfisch]

Hi, and thanks for the contribution! It's always nice to get feedback like this 😄

The idea of having modes is certainly interesting! But instead of having buttons, I played with the idea of opening a different menu in the upper half of the screen than in the lower half (when in portrait mode, for example). Of course, this would be optional, but it would probably be simple enough. So maybe this will come soon!

Having a couple of different pie menus would, in my opinion, defeat the main feature of pie menus, which is that you can use them with muscle memory without even looking.

[Rom1-GoPlay]

The idea of having differents menu on different parts of the screen is very cool ! It could allow users to launch more apps more quickly (without the need of using the search feature).

But my idea of having "modes" would not fill exactly the same needs and I believe it will not defeat the muscles memory feature (even if I am not sure). It would be also optional and just bring flexibility.

But I want to explain more clearly why it should be useful:
When I use my phone, I often need to access apps quickly (calendar, contacts... ) these apps are in my menu and it is useful as I am not distracted by other apps when I want to do a specific thing.
But in an other context, when I am studying, I want to have a quick access to different apps (flash cards, browser, todo list, also calendar...) and in this case I need to search the app so I am distracted by other apps, it takes more time, and I can't visualize in a ring all apps I could use in this context. This affect my productivity but there is a lot of potential in this launcher, more than (I belive) in classical lauchers.

I know it is not always easy to add a feature and I can understand if you don't want to add it. In this case, just make me know why (want to keep the project simple ?, technical difficulty ?, ...) because instead of writing so many lines of English, I could maybe, write lines of code and try to add the features myself. I already made a functional android app but in kotlin and not a launcher. And with difficulties but I am ok to learn more.

[markusfisch]

Hm, yes, maybe this could really work - but I'm still not really convinced, unfortunately 😬 Of course, you have a point, and maybe I am wrong, but that's the beauty of open source: you can always try and make it your way 😉 So please go ahead and play with it!

The thing is, muscle memory only works well if you do the same motion, very often, with the same outcome. I'm afraid that choosing a mode (from a row of buttons) makes you think (for example about the contents of the pie menu for that mode), and then there's no muscle memory anymore.

[Rom1-GoPlay]

I am still considering the option of making it myself, but I want to be clear about something:
I'm not sure I will make it and If I try, I don't know how good it will be.
In other words I want to feel as free as possible with this potential project.

Apart from that, I want to share another idea:
Instead of having modes for the ring menu, we could have an improved search menu... with modes, maybe.
Let me explain:
When we touche the home screen (instead of swiping), it opens a menu where we can search for apps. But before we begin typing, it shows our apps in alphabetical order.
It could show a different set of apps depending to a selected mode. So as the ring menu is not concerned, it will not affect muscle memory.
This idea can be adapted. For exemple, I suggest to improve the search menu instead creating a totally new menu because I love the simplicity of pie launcher as it is currently, but maybe creating a new menu is more simple than adding a lot of features in an existing one.

Thank you for what you are doing !

[Rom1-GoPlay]

I have to explain something because my opinion has changed again:
Maybe, PieLauncher is not the Launcher, my idea will work the best with.
I still love PieLaucher ! But I want to find another launcher which aims something even closer to my needs.

Feel free to use the ideas I have shared here if you want !

Thanks for everything !!

[Hirschiii]

Hi there,

what about sub-menus. Like when you swipe to an app icon, or in this case the sub menu icon, a new pie menu spawns right on your finger tip, with a new set of apps. I tried to visualize it :)

(You can see the first menu with a lower opacity, but this is only to see the new position relative to the old menu)

[markusfisch]

@Hirschiii This idea has come up a couple of times (see #36), but I think that it wouldn't work very well on the small screen of a phone 😬

[Hirschiii]

Oh I see, sry. I did not saw this feature request. But thanks :)

[Luis-Ever]

I like the idea of two different menus one on the upper/lower half, that's definitely something I'd like to see.

I know you don't like buttons but I see two possible ways to use them in a way you might find consistent with the philosophy of your launcher. I designed mockups for them in Krita.

1. This one entails assigning the "all apps" to a slot, I chose the one straight up for the mockup as it's basically the standard gesture to call up the apps. While locking a slot, it would free the taps: thus a single tap would open menu 1, and a double tap menu 2.

2. Whether the user has a gesture gui or just the usual navigation bar, the lower corners are easy to get to by muscle memory: it could be the right place where to add two buttons to switch between the two pies. An inner, possibly colored circle or letter marks the active one.
   (In my example "W" = work ; "F"= Fun, but could just be "1" and "2")

I'm currently using your launcher and I really like it, hope my input can be useful to you.

[markusfisch]

@Luis-Ever Thanks for the suggestions and for all the work you put into this 👍

But I'm afraid you're right: I don't like buttons too much 😬😉 See, I just like the clean look of the launcher, and the simplicity of its main interface.

That's why I would prefer this idea of having two different menus, one on the upper, and one on the lower half of the screen. But it can be as well the left and right part of the screen, and that could be a setting. So this could come quite close to your concept I think.

[Rom1-GoPlay]

@Luis-Ever Thanks for the suggestions and for all the work you put into this 👍

But I'm afraid you're right: I don't like buttons too much 😬😉 See, I just like the clean look of the launcher, and the simplicity of its main interface.

That's why I would prefer this idea of having two different menus, one on the upper, and one on the lower half of the screen. But it can be as well the left and right part of the screen, and that could be a setting. So this could come quite close to your concept I think.

You just give me a new idea !
We could have two menus, but instead of launching apps with both, one could change the mode (exemples: play, work, ...) and the other shows different apps according to the selected mode.
It could also be a setting.
This is only an idea and I don't know the impact on muscle memory...