Android User Interface Design

Ian G. Clifton is the Director of User Experience and lead Android developer at A.R.O. in Seattle, where he develops Saga, an Android and iOS app that learns about you in order to let you live a better life with minimal interaction. He has worked with many designers in the course of his career and has developed several well-known Android apps, such as CNET News, CBS News, Survivor, Big Brother, and Rick Steves' Audio Europe. Ian's love of technology, art, and user experience has led him along a variety of paths. Besides Android development, he has done platform, web, and desktop development. He served in the United States Air Force as a Satellite, Wideband, and Telemetry Systems Journeyman and has also created quite a bit of art with pencil, brush, and camera. You can follow Ian G. Clifton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IanGClifton and see his thoughts about mobile development on his blog at http://blog.iangclifton.com. He also published a video series called "The Essentials of Android Application Development," available at http://my.safaribooksonline.com/video/programming/android/9780132996594.

Introduction   1

Part I: The Basics of Android User Interface
Chapter 1: Android UI Overview   5
A Brief History of Android Design   6
The Android Design Website   7
Core Principles   8
Standard Components   16
Supporting Multiple Devices   19
Notable Changes   20
Summary   21
Chapter 2: Understanding Views--The UI Building Blocks   23
What Is a View?    24
Displaying Text   29
Displaying Images   33
Views for Gathering User Input   36
Other Notable Views   40
Listening to Events   42
Summary   44
Chapter 3: Creating Full Layouts with View Groups and Fragments   45
ViewGroup   46
Fragments   57
Summary   60
Chapter 4: Adding App Graphics and Resources   61
Introduction to Resources in Android   62
Resource Qualifiers   62
Understanding Density   67
Supported Image Files   68
Nine-Patch Images   69
XML Drawables   71
Other Resources   81
Summary   84

Part II: The Full Design and Development Process
Chapter 5: Starting a New App   87
Defining Goals   88
High-Level Flow   91
Wireframes   94
Summary   106
Chapter 6: Developing the App Foundation   107
Organizing into Activities and Fragments   108
Breaking Wireframes into Views   116
Creating Themes and Styles   131
Summary   132
Chapter 7: Finalizing the Design   133
Wireframes and Graphical Design   134
App Visual Style and Personality   134
Text Considerations   143
Standard Icons   148
Dynamic Content Considerations   149
Navigation and Transitions   150
Error Cases   150
Summary   150
Chapter 8: Applying the Design   153
Working with the Designer   154
Slicing the Graphics Assets   155
Updating Themes and Styles   160
Breaking Comps into Views   161
Improving Efficiency   166
Basic Testing Across Device Types   174
Summary   175
Chapter 9: Further Improving the App   177
Hierarchy Viewer   178
Animations   184
Custom Fonts   194
Summary   198

Part III: Advanced Topics for Android User Interfaces
Chapter 10: How to Handle Common Components   199
Splash Screen   200
Loading Indication   210
Complex TextViews   212
Autoloading ListViews   217
Summary   222
Chapter 11: Combining Views for Custom Components   223
When to Combine Views   224
Combining Views to Simplify Working with Them   224
Implementing a Multibutton Toggle   236
Summary   255
Chapter 12: Developing Fully Custom Views   257
General Concepts   258
Developing the Custom View   263
Summary   298
Chapter 13: Working with the Canvas and Advanced Drawing   299
PorterDuff Image Compositing   300
Creating Custom Drawables   319
Summary   324

Part IV: Helpful Guides and Reference
Appendix A: Google Play Assets   325
Application Description   326
The Change Log   327
Application Icon   327
Screenshots   328
Feature Graphic   329
Promotional Graphic   334
Video (YouTube)    334
Promoting Your App   335
Appendix B: Amazon Appstore Assets   337
Overview   338
The Application Icon   338
Screenshots   339
Promotional Graphic   339
Videos   340
Appendix C: Common Task Reference   343
Indicating Loading in the Action Bar   344
Dismissing the Software Keyboard   350
Using Full Screen Mode   351
Keeping the Screen On   352
Determining the Device’s Physical Screen Size   352
Determining the Device DPI   353
Checking for a Network Connection   354
Checking if the Current Thread Is the UI Thread   354
Custom View Attributes   355

Index   363