Hey guys!

I used to be a pocket pc guy so I loved the today screen. It's the #1 thing I miss on my blackberry. I've tried out BBToday but since I use my BB as a phone so much, it really just doesn't do it for me.

Now, I'm a professional programmer and I've been looking over the blackberry SDK documentation, and I don't think creating a good today screen app will be that hard!

Can you guys tell me what you want? Here are the features I've thought of so far:

-Status indicatiors (Battery time left, signal strength, etc.)
-Mail tab (not only indicates new messages but gives you acces to them on the spot)
-Calendar tab (customized so that you can chose how many different appointments to show)
-Phone tab (lists missed calls directly, not just saying you have one)
-Tasks tab
-Weather tab
-Shortcuts to favorite applications tab (customizable)

All skinnable of course. I'll set it up somehow so that you can create your own sins.

What do you think? Honestly, it won't be that hard to make. It'll be designed around the 7100 because if you don't have it yet, you should.

Tell me your thoughts and suggestions! If I'm gonna do this, I wanna do it RIGHT.

-George

I like what you have there so far!

thoes are some very good points, also for the mail tab you can put how many unread messages, just like windows XP does

Good suggestion! I'll include that.

-GS

George - I am all for your effort! One thing I will point out though is that an application similar to what you are tlaking about already has been developed....not that there are not improvements to the GUI, etc. that could can be made....the developer basically states he is not going to develop it further at this time....

See this thread - http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/show...threadid=53263

lots of feedback....there and a link to download the app....

Also there is another application called PocketDay that I am beta testing that has some good functionality for a today screen (mainly battery, unread mail, appointments, and tasks)......do a search here for info on it....

One of the biggest issues with the Today screen app that is already in the "wild" is that the weather portion does not work for those of us using the BWC on T-Mobile because they block the ports that functionality needs to serve up the weather content....

Anyways take a look - any improvements are always welcome!!

And if you need a beta tester look me up....

thx
jeff

I've tried BBToday and I found it really lacking. That is why I want to develop my own system.

In any case, there is pretty good feedback in that thread. I'll make sure to look it over more.

I'm not sure what to do about BWC.....that's a little ways down the road.

In any case, thanks for the tips!!

-George

I'd like customizable keyboard shortcuts to apps of my choosing on my BB.

Well, since no one else has said it, I'd like for it to be free.

That was assumed

-George

Weather to work for me too! (ie Canadians/Others)

I'm not sure how this would be acheived, but Plug-in support so others can develop modules for the Today screen.

I've been plugging away at trying to work with the screen and other objects. If as you work away and create some test apps, I'de find some source in the Dev Forum very useful! (Working with screens, working with event handlers, other reletively simple examples etc)

Sounds great. Could you build a theme editor while you're at it??

:D

Seriously, I'm sure your efforts will be appreciated by everyone here!

Show future appointments when there are none for that day, i.e. the next appointment so I don't have to go look for it.

oh and my issue with BBToday too was that if you hit esc to leave it to run some other app then I had to use alt-esc (the ribbon) to get it up front again. I'd like a keyboard shortcut I can assign that is one key that if I hit it from the normal home screen it will bring your today app to front.

Ditto.

That's the main reason why my work BlackBerry is my #2 device -- I can't live w/o the "upcoming appointments" (even if my next appt is four days away) feature from Windows Mobile.

Would like to see th ability to use 24 hour time vs. AM and PM

You can do this today in the Date/time settings (Time Format)...or did I misunderstand the request?

i was waiting to read through the whole thread before i requested that

One thing i'd like to add is the ability for it to be pluggable, so others could add their own functionality. this would lower the bloat when there are features that some people just would not use. Don't forget how slow these devices are ;)

this may be a little lofty, but one thing myself and my co-workers would love to see in a today-screen tool: sports results. similar to the weather feature. customizable (ie. which leagues to track, nfl, nba, etc, and how often it culls the data).

pretty please?

Tbone,
Yes, the 12-24 hour is available on the unit and I am using the 24 hour time setting. The question was what would you like to see in a "Today" screen. The only reason for mentioning this is that I downloaded the current BB Today program http://www.rustyredwagon.com/bb/bbtoday.zip and it only has a 12 hour clock. I emailed the developer (deadstick) and he said that this was on his future enhancement list. So, if George is going to start from scratch, I wanted to get my two cents in before he got going. For what it's worth, the BB Today ribbon is a great program and I now find my 7100t 100% more useful than it was without the Today screen.
Doug

Ahh..sorry i misunderstood.

That said, I second the motion for the 24hr setting. I'm proud to be an American, but am/pm is just plain stupid! 24hr format is the only way to go.

Random thought: Is there such thing as a 24hr analog clock? I'll have to look into that...