Cydia Adds New Featured Extensions and Tweaks Guide

[Joshua Tucker]

One of the iconic features of Cydia undoubtedly is the Cydia home page. The interface hasn't changed for a long time and its overall layout and style has been a defining factor for what Cydia is all about. The tabs inside this window include links to Cydia's various social networks, Featured, Themes, Cydia Store: Products, and much more. The Featured page specifically has generally been the area where companies with Cydia products are able to advertise. For the most part, this tab served the purpose of an advertisement mechanism. However, as of September of 2011, it has served a second purpose: an area that displays featured extensions and tweaks for a variety of categories. With Cydia's vast network of packages, this area is an excellent way to help those looking for certain tweaks and applications in a specific category without having to rummage around themselves.



Inside the Featured tab on the front page of Cydia, scroll down to the bottom until you see the Featured Extensions and Tweaks section. In this section, there are a number of tabs that are categorized by type. A few that are included are:

• 10 Tools to Start With
• Calling Improvements
• Cydia Package Helpers
• File Managers and Sharers

If you go inside any of the respective tabs, there's a description about what this tab entails as well as a list of applications that fit this category. Tapping on any of the packages brings you right to the package inside Cydia. Navigation couldn't be any easier; you're always able to move forward or backward through this process which makes this section extremely handy.



One might ask; how does a package get featured in this area of Cydia? In the Administrative Information section at the way bottom of the page lays out guidelines to how a package can be featured in this area. The criteria are the following:

1. It Is Very Popular
2. It Is Generally Interesting
3. It Is Clearly Explained
4. It Works on Many Firmwares
5. It Does Not "Patch" Files
6. It Has No Backup/Restore Steps
7. It Supports Mobile Safe Mode
8. It Is Generally Not Annoying

Full details on what each criterion means can be found in the Requirements for Listing tab inside the Featured tab in Cydia.

The new Featured Extensions and Tweaks guide is a clear winner. A hub for popular and useful tweaks has been a section that Cydia has needed for a long time. Don't just take my word for it - check it out for yourselves!

Special thanks to Britta for her continued hard work in Cydia.

Source(s): Cydia

[norfskate]

Doss :-)

[KraXik]

I found the hardest thing when introducing new people to jailbreak was they were overwhelmed with Cydia and where to begin.

This 'most popular' tweaks will be great to get them going in the right direction.

[iPod]

Nice!