Transformer Hubs

A couple of days ago I came upon a design method/layout called "Hubs".

The idea is to designate the various homescreens under categories, such as "Media", "Office", "Library", etc. After working out a few problems with the various widgets, I've finally got a look that I like, and can spend less time on appearance, and more time on useful activities. Credit for the concept and help goes to the people at xda-developers.

The screens in order from left to right are:

If someone wants to try this, it should work on any android tablet.

The programs I used were:

• ADWLauncher EX (and some free themes, purely for their icon sets)
• Multipicture Live wallpaper (for the changing wallpapers)
• Minimalistic text (for the hub names)
• Beautiful widgets (for the weather forecast)
• Elixir (for system stats and wifi toggle)

Here's a brief summary of what I did. (Everything is explained in greater detail in the forum post I linked to above.)

1. Install ADWLauncher EX, remove the bottom dock, and top bar. Change the screen preferences to 10 columns and 8 rows, and enable overlapping widgets.
2. Create a minimalistic text widget, with size 3x1. Create a custom layout, and enter "static text", where you can write the name of your hub (e.g. "Home"). Choose a font and size you like. Set the background to your chosen level of transparent black, and save the layout.
3. Repeat for the other home screens, except now you restore the layout every time, only changing the hub title.
4. Create a folder called wallpapers on your internal storage, and then folders within it, with the names of your hubs. Fill those folders with whatever wallpapers you want to appear in those hubs. Then go to wallpapers > live wallpapers > multipicture live wallpaper, and assign each screen to the folder you've created. Double tapping on an empty part of any homescreen will switch to the next wallpaper. I've also used a fade transition for moving between wallpapers.
5. Add various widgets as you see fit. Then, if you want them to have the same transparent black bar as I have on the home screen, add a blank minimalistic text widget, go into edit, and stretch it to fill the space behind. This should work once you've enabled overlapping widgets in ADW settings.
6. Create folders and app shortcuts as you see fit, and then assign whatever icons you like. You can obtain icons by downloading ADW themes. Just make sure not to apply the theme itself, or you will destroy your work. You can see how I've used different icon sets for different hubs, to help match the mood or atmosphere. Most of the icons you see in the bottom left are actually folders.

My layout is by no means finished, and I have yet to add more apps and folders, but the essentials are all there.

What do you think? Post up your own designs :)