I released v0.3.0 of my LCARS Star Trek Niagara Launcher Theme project.
For anyone unfamiliar, Niagara Launcher is an Android launcher/home screen replacement with a clean vertical app list instead of the usual grid of icons. I like it because the layout is already kind of minimal and interface-y, so I thought it would be a fun base for making a phone feel more like a Star Trek LCARS panel.
Niagara Launcher: https://niagaralauncher.app/
My project started as me trying to make Niagara Launcher look more like LCARS, but it has slowly turned into a more general LCARS wallpaper/icon/theme generator. This update is probably the first one where it starts to feel like a proper system instead of just a pile of cool-looking experiments.
The big change is that palettes are now shared across the wallpaper generator, icon generator, and gallery. I added a lot more categorized palettes too, including:
- Classic LCARS
- Trek faction-inspired palettes
- Pride/identity palettes
- Regional/flag-inspired palettes
- Accessibility modes
- Retro computing colors
- Space/nature themes
- General mood/function stuff
There is also a custom palette editor now, so you can directly change the LCARS block colors.
The other big thing is that wallpaper panel rhythm and color mapping are separate now. Before, the shape/layout pattern also determined which palette colors got used, which made some palettes come out weird. Now the rhythm controls the panel proportions, while color mapping controls how the colors are distributed.
So rainbow, pride, and flag-style palettes can actually behave more like themselves instead of getting shoved through the old LCARS role-color pattern.
The icon generator has matching color-mapping options now too, and the gallery got cleaned up with better filters, no weird caps, and live local-font previews for installed Trek/decorative fonts.
Live site: https://yearbook-enzyme.github.io/LCARS-Star-Trek-Niagara-Launcher-Theme/
GitHub release: https://github.com/Yearbook-enzyme/LCARS-Star-Trek-Niagara-Launcher-Theme/releases/tag/v0.3.0
Still very niche, still very Star Trek, but it is getting a lot more useful now.
Yes to use the theme you have to buy into niagara, it does have a lifetime purchase for 40 usd which sounds like a lot for a launcher but 40 over a lifetime is basically pennies, the devs are pretty good and I feel comfy supporting them, the launcher has just felt more nice the more I have used it over the years and its good to give money to stuff like this.
I don't know about the clicks phone for sure but I imagine since it has niagara preinstalled that you probably don't need to buy it in that case or its part of the phone cost or whatever, not saying people should get a different phone but I think thats a another example of how people buying into niagara is helping the future since it is being used on a device that is offering a real development value in a world of all phone looking the sameish and offering tech addictions.
Niagara is not open source either btw but releases can be grabbed from github, I don't know the reasoning from the devs for this but I can imagine doing this would disallow people from morphing the basic look of niagara into other things too much which could be seen as bad because it could make it more addictive as a phone launcher if people fork or mod it to be different, I don't necessarily agree with that reasoning but yeah.