Anyone still using the classic Today screen with multiple plug-ins? Well, here’s a cool Today plug-in that may be of interest to you. JTdLnch is a program launcher that uses animated transitions to switch between different pages of program shortcuts. You can add many shortcuts to one page or spread them out through multiple pages, which helps free screen real estate. You can also adjust the launcher pattern/animations, font/frame colors, dimensions and more.

Interested? Well… there’s a slight problem. This plug-in was created by a Japanese developer and the settings menu is entirely n Japanese. So, most of you will probably see blocks or random symbols, unless Japanese fonts are installed on the device. With that in mind, I decided to translate most of it in an effort to make setting up the plug-in easier for those interested. Read on to get a full walk through of the settings menu and find out where you can get this slick launcher.

JTdLnch 1.05 can be downloaded from the developer’s site (WM6 & WM5 cabs). Below, you’ll find a complete guide that will hopefully help users in figuring out how to use JTdLnch. It’s basically an explanation of all the tabs available in the settings menu, which can be found under Start Menu>Programs>JTdLnchSet.

Tab 1 (Pages):

This is the foundation of the launcher. Before adjusting anything else, you will want to create a new page. To achieve this, simply enter a title for the new page on the first line of this tab. Then, select the preferred launcher pattern. The left box is the pattern set for portrait mode, the right is for landscape. Experiment with a few until you find one you like (previews can be viewed on dev’s site). Next, click “add” and you’ll see the entry displayed in the bottom window. If you decide to change the pattern later, be sure to click edit after making the changes or they may not take.

Tab 2 (Apps):

This is where you’ll be adding the shortcuts for each page of the launcher. Select one of your pages from the drop down menu and click “add.” For some reason, the app doesn’t seem to be very efficient in auto-searching for files or shortcuts (first two choices), so I recommend adding the file path manually. First, enter the text that you want displayed for a particular shortcut and then type in the path to that program on the line labeled “PATH.”

For example, I added Opera Mobile 9.7 by entering “Program FilesOpera MobileOperaL.exe”

You’re not just restricted to program shortcuts using the manual entry method. You can also add shortcuts to other file types like images. If you don’t enjoy tapping the bottom left/right corners of the launcher to switch pages, you can add shortcuts to other pages by choosing the second to last choice from the drop down menu (during the add app process). Blank placeholders can be added by using the last option in the drop down menu, which can be used to customize the pattern of the launcher. If anyone’s able to figure out a friendlier way of using the automated method, let us know in the comments.

Tab 3 (Themes):

This tab doesn’t appear to be in use at the moment, but will probably be used in the future to quickly change themes of the launcher.

Tab 4 (General Settings):

This tab has the most Japanese characters (or blocks), so I edited a screen shot of it with English translations. View it at the end of this post.

Tab 5 (Plug-in Height):

Adjust the height of the actual plug-in here. The option at the bottom adjusts the height of the page switch area.

Tab 6 (Plug-in Width):

Likewise, you can adjust the width of the plug-in here.

Tab 7 (Colors):

Here you can change different colors associated with the launcher. The first choice is for changing the frame color, the second is for the font and the last one is to adjust the launcher’s transparency.

The final tab is obviously just an info box. JTdLnch can be a little tricky to configure; but once everything is set up, you end up with a pretty sweet, animated launcher.

(Via: XDA-developers)