Droid X: The Missing Manual

Customizing the Home Screen and Panes

Here’s one of the many nice things about the Droid X—it’s easy to put your personal mark on it. Wish there were a few more apps on the Home screen? No problem; you can easily add them. Want to change the location of apps, or move around widgets and add new ones to each of your panes and the Home screen? It’s a breeze. The rest of this section shows you how.

Adding Widgets, Folders, Shortcuts, and Wallpaper

The Home screen is practically a blank canvas, waiting for your Picasso-like touches. Instead of paint, you can add widgets, shortcuts, and folders to it, and even change its wallpaper. To do any of the above, the first step is the same: Press and hold your finger anywhere on the Home screen. Alternatively, press the Menu key and select Add. Either way, an “Add to Home screen” menu appears, with the following options:

• Motorola widgets. A widget is an applet that performs a small, specific task, often grabbing and displaying information from the Droid X or the Internet. Motorola widgets are those that the Droid X’s manufacturer cooked up and added to the basic Android operating system that runs the Droid X. When you select this option, you see a list of all the Motorola widgets you can add—anything from toggling into Airplane mode to displaying your status on social networking sites, the current weather, your favorite photos, and more. Tap the widget you want to add and follow its instructions.

• Android widgets. These are widgets build directly ...