Develop Reference

Align Toolbar title and SearchView with list content with avatars

I'm trying to follow the material guidelines and I aligned the Toolbar title with the avatar like the image below following the instructions of #ChrisBanes in this answer.
My issue now is that when the SearchView is activated, it's not aligned anymore as seen in the second image. (It was aligned before changing the inset)
Any ideas of how I can align both things instead of having to choose between one or the other?

If you want to align avatar with search-view then you need remove space of homeup button and search-view.
FYI: search view behavior is different in large size device so you can go with custom action-bar.

I solved it by using app:titleMarginStart="16dp" instead of changing the contentInset. I have tested it only in a xhdpi phone, though.

Tips at start-up or update

I have an update for my app that includes ActionBarSherlock with a sliding menu. I have put my navigation entirely in to the sliding menu, leaving my main_activity pretty bare. I am worried the user won't know about the menu. So I want to add a prompt at start-up that will highlight the new feature. Like this:
I am not even sure what this is called, so I don't know how to research it. Any help or suggestions will be rewarded. Thanks!

You could just use overlay layout (Frame layout with multiple inner layouts will fit perfectly. Please note Frame Layout Z axis is by the lower the layout is in the xml, so the guide should be the last in the XML). Make that layout's background mostly transparent and add buttons and design to fit your needs. When you don't want to show the layout just set visibility to gone. And when you need it set to visible.

Android action Bar customization

my app is using using Sherlock action bar.
my designer gave me a new design.
the app logo need to be in the middle
2 action items to the left and 2 actionitems to the right of the logo
the app logo height is 1.5 the size of the actionbar (it suppose to be a little overflow)
is it possible to create a custom layout for the actionbar to implement this desing ?
or should i remove my actionbar and implement the design my own ?
if item #3 will be optional , does it changes your answers ?
Thanks

I'm sorry, but kick your designer in the...
He doesn't get Android at all and shouldn't design for Android. Either it's an ActionBar and then you should treat is as such and you (or your designer) should follow the common pattern on Android, or it is not.
If it is no ActionBar, please do not use an ActionBar (no matter which library) and create a custom design that deviates enough from an ActionBar so as not to confuse users!

Please forward your designer, and your manager to Android design patterns site at http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/actionbar.html . Also tell them that if they want Google to ever feature them, they pretty much have to adhere to these. With all failed use full screen layout and create a custom control on the top

I agree with other answers: that's not an action bar as defined by Android guidelines.
I'll just add that in case you can't go against the design decisions made (yeah, real-world projects sometimes suck and as a programmer you'll have to do what the client asks).
Go with your own implementation. I suggest simply creating a fragment with the appropriate listener interface (a common Android pattern, let the activity implement the interface, set the fragment's listener in onAttach).

If you want to implement this (and I pretty much agree with the other posters, that this is non-standard, and probably shouldn't be done).
You won't be able to create this style ActionBar with the standard APIs (or ActionBarSherlock for that matter) - since your UI is non-standard
You could create a RelativeLayout, with your icon in the center (centerInParent="true"). Then in the same layout, you could create a background, with width set to "fill_parent", and the height to 2/3 the size of your center icon (calculating this value in DP).
Then you can create ImageButtons for your 2 ActionItems to the left and to the right, then just put them in your layout relative to the center icon.
Bottom line, you probably should re-think your UI, to make this more standard to the design patterns specified by Android. If you still want to do it the way your designer asks, you will need to do a custom layout (using a RelativeLayout as I suggested is one way to accomplish the UI you are looking for).

You could create a RelativeLayout, with your icon in the center
centerInParent="true"
Then in the same layout, you could create a background, with width set to fill_parent, and the height to 2/3 the size of your center icon (calculating this value in DP).

Tips on how to build a layout like this one

Could anyone give me a tip on how to build a layout like in the following picture?
The application i'm working on has absolutely nothing to do with VoIP but I'm trying to build something like this. One fixed toolbar at the bottom, an interchangeable middle pane with listviews, scrollviews or other, and another toolbar at the top which would change depending on the button selected on the bottom bar.
Also, would it be possible and good practice to keep all of this within a single activity?

You should NOT build an interface like this. Don't use bottom bars! Don't use labelled back buttons on action views!
You should read the Android design guidelines and then work with tab views... and other stuff referenced there and build an Android app.

Also, would it be possible and good practice to keep all of this within a single activity?
-Yes for sure, and yes with a slight catch, depending on what you mean.
One approach would be to create your top and bottom bars inside their own XML. Then in your activity onCreate() inflate and add at the top and bottom of your Layout.
If the bottom bar will not change ever, then you could actually add that into the layouts you already have. If you do it that way, to handle the listeners you could create an Activity that contains just the bottom bar click listeners and then extend that with all of your other activities.
Since the top bar can change though you'll probably have to inflate and add the views to that at run time, that way you can react to what is going on to add / remove / present the appropriate views in the top bar.
Also just because it is somewhat of a pet peeve of mine:
When designing your bottom bar please seriously consider the fact that some devices have soft buttons directly underneath the touch screen. And they are rather close to the screen on some devices. Applications with a bottom bar that is not tall enough create an opportunity for the user to hit one of the system buttons instead of one of the bottom bar buttons as they are intending (or vice versa). Which from a users perspective I must say is VERY aggravating.

Do not use bottom bars. To give a more familiar UI, put all of those functions into the top bar. Start by looking at the source code for the ActionBarCompat project in your android sdk sample folder.

The Android developer site is a good place to start. See
UI Guide
I also agree with the poster who recommended against this specific layout. It seems to have been developed for an iPhone and shouldn't be used "as is".

Android title buttons

I am trying to reproduce the account chooser widget that the GMail app has on top right.
I know already how to put things in the title but i have several problems:
I've tried putting a normal button in the title but it doesn't fit
It looks like the size of the title is bigger than what it is, for example if I put a normal button there, there is no way of making it the proper height, in fact goes below the app like if half of the title space was hidden below
I thought it might be a clickable label with a rectangular shape, but I tried it and no way to make it work.
Any hint?

Looking at the layout using the hierarchy viewer it seems like it really is just a Button inside a LinearLayout. The only interesting part is that the LinearLayout's layout_height is set to MATCH_PARENT (which is just the newer version of FILL_PARENT) where its parent the RelativeLayout has a hardcoded layout_height of 54.
I'm not sure if this is of help for you but maybe it can point you in the right direction.