Handle Ui for all screen sizes - android

If i have specific layout which contains 2 ui components Application logo image and edit text, and i want to handle this layout for all screen sizes beginning from 2 inches to 10 inches.
I have taken a decision to stretch the layout components for high sizes and shrink it for small sizes, but i have some issues
1- How to test this layout to assure if it fits on all screen sizes, do i have to create at least one emulator for every group of inches ?
2- how I stretch the image view, shall i create dimensions for it for every group of inches?
3 - Application logo when i stretch it for higher screen sizes (7 and 10 inches) it get distorted and pixelated , what i have to do with this image, do i have to export app logo for every group of inches ?

Same application Logo should not be used for all resolutions. We need to place images with respective resolution in respective folders like
Lower resolution images in drawable-ldpi
Higher resolution images in drawable-hdpi, drawable-mdpi, drawable-xhdpi, drawable-xxhdpi. Android OS takes care of selecting the image from respective folder based on the device screen resolution.
In order to test you can use an easier way i.e., in the Graphical Layout at the top there is a drop down with the last option as "Preview All Screens" where you can have a glance how is your design in all resolutions

Related

Android Design Screen for different screen size

app screen on galaxy s4 it skip right and bottom part because of small size mobile
I am having problem in Design different screen size.
how should all 5 categories will support most of the mobile screen?
my Android App Design Normal screen works on 5 inch mobile screen where as for 4 inch screen it skip below content.
for example it work nice on samsang galaxy s4 (5 inch) also on nexus 4.
but as shown in image when i see on nexus S(4 inch screen) it skip some bottom and right part .it cannot hold full layout mostly top and left part it display.
how to design normal screen which support these screen size changes?
is it compulsory to use wrap_content or Match_parent or fill_parent only to get rid of it.
for that also i am confused of specifying image size for different screen size in drawable.
also is normal screen be of different density such as hdpi,mdpi,ldpi etc.
how to solve this issue is it sufficient to use dp and sp?
and last one, in Android Studio we design 5 types of layout.for example activity_channel_list.xml(small). etc( for normal,large,xLarge).what last just activity_channel_list.xml represent.is it like if not any layout is selected.this will be selected by default.
Thanks in advance.
If you want to design layouts for different screens then make folders accordingly link
layout-mdpi
layout-hdpi
layout-xhdpi
layout-xxhdpi
If you don't want create different layout for different screens then simply use dimension file and create different dimens in that like
values-hdpi (dimen)
values-xhdpi (dimen)
values-xxhdpi (dimen)
and the difference between dp and sp is, we use dp for give dimensions to the image, and for size purpose and sp is use for define text size
the screen size id efferent and you cant make a layout for every one you need to try categorize the screen with layout selector
if you use sp for text the text size will change when user change the android font size and it is better to use dp for text
and last Question is like first one you need to categorize layout for size and density normaly
How should all 5 categories will support most of the mobile screen?
Take care if these following aspects while designing layouts:
1.Always design layouts inside scrollview, so that for smaller screens user will be able to view complete layout by scrolling
2.Use sp for text Sizes
3.Use dip(density independent pixels) for all widget sizes, usage of dip makes the size of widget according to mobile profile(like 240*320 may use ldpi so according widget size will change)
4.All the icons you are using you need to generate for all profiles(ldpi,hdpi,xxhdpi,xhdpi) and store in drawable-xxxx folder
If you dont want to generate images for all profiles you can use font icons (like font awesome,iconmoon)
font icons appear according to screen sizes.
5.Last but not least, avoid using hardcoded margins between widgets use attributes like gravity,center_in_parent etc.. so that screen looks uniform in all devices.

different devices with different image and font size

I am creating an app for different devices and I added images with different sizes in drawable-small, drawable-medium... to add the same image for different devices but I need to increase the size of the image when the size of the screen increases is this the correct way?
plus I need to increase the font size when the screen size increases how can I do that and if I used the layout-small... folders what font size will be the perfect size for the devices with small screen size (portrait and landscape) and for the medium and large..?where can I find this info as I am trying and trying different font sizes but there must be another way!!
thanks.
This is a very rookie question but here goes:
You set the text and image sized in dp (density pixels) so screen size and resolution is irrelevant.
As for making multiple drawables for each screen size is a good idea but not a necessity since you can choose how much of the screen each picture will take, but on bigger screens make sure the resolution of your images are high enough to look good.
For scaling a particular image to all screen size you can use nine patch image. There will be drawninepatch.bat file in the tools folder of your sdk. Open that , drag and drop the image , and you want to expand the image based on your needs. Now after the nine patch is created put that in the drawable folder. This image will expand accordingto the screen resolution and densities.

Same pixel size but different screen size and resolution

I've an android project with layouts and resources for screen size large and mdpi (resources are in folders "layout", "drawable", and "drawable-mdpi").
The layout is mostly relative but some margins are given as absolute dp values.
The screens look perfectly on a device with above specifications (large/mdpi: aka device 1) and a pixel resolution of 480x800. Now, I have another device which has the same pixel resolution of 480x800 but since the screen is smaller, it has screen size normal and hdpi (aka device 2). The screens on device 2 look really messy (elements overlap etc.)
Since the pixel resolution is identical on both devices, it should be possible to create perfectly fitting screens for device 2 as well with little effort.
If I don't care about elements physically appearing smaller on device 2, what would be the approach to just physically "scale" my layouts (to fit on device 2)?
Just copying the drawable-mdpi to drawable-hdpi helps a little bit, but there are still problems. Are the absolute dp margins in the layout the problem? Should they be replaced by pixel dependent ones and everything is OK?
In general, what are best practices when I want to use a design that was originally created for a specific pixel resolution on devices with different pixel resolutions and I don't care much about elements appearing smaller or bigger?
In my case I basically just want to "scale" the original design and I don't care much about the vertical size (because the main view is scrollable anyway).

Android: position of buttons in screens with different resolutions

My Android application consists of several UI screens that contain a background resource and buttons that are placed on top of it.
The position of the buttons on top of the background is determined in the xml file of the layout.
In screens with different resolutions the background is resized to fit the screen.
This creates a problem that the buttons are not placed in the right place on top the background.
For example:
Using an emulator I checked it on a variety of normal size screens.
The background I used is compatible to a 480x800 resolution with density 240. But when I run it on an emulator with resolution of 640X960 and density of 320 the background is resized and the buttons are not placed in the right place.
The same thing happens on an emulator with resolution of 320X480 and density of 160.
Consider not sizing the picture to the total size but setting it to a defined size. So you will have somehow a black frame around your picture but no problem with different screensizes.

Resolutions and densities

I am developing for android and my code runs perfect on nexus or any 3.7 inch device.
If I run it on tablet (7 or 10.1 inch) then the fonts and buttons are very small and the spacing is way too big.
If I run it on 2.7 QVGA then the buttons are too big and overlap.
I am using dp and sp all over the layout so I am surprised it didn't adjust according to different screen size/density.
Does that mean that I have to wrte the same XML layout in 3 layout folders (large, medium and small) and put my drawable in 3 different density folders?
Or am I amissing something here. Yes I read the "Supporting multiple screen" document and it just loses me with the details (but I did follow the tips of using dp and sp). I am looking for more of a summary/general approach answer.
dp and sp adjusts according to screen density. Therefore, a screen with 500 dpi and 4000 dpi but with the same SCREEN DIMENTIONS will looks the same.
If they have different screen sizes, it won't fit as you want. If you want to support multiple screen sizes, you'd have to use weights or percentages.
The key is that dp = device independent pixel and it only adjusts according to density, not screen size.
In the most cases if you don't make a tablet app, you don't need to make more than one XML layout for different densities/sizes. All you must do is define dimensions with DP and SP as you said.
But is necessary to provide different images in the drawable folder to show one or other in function on screen size/density.
If you put all images in drawable folder (without specify hdi,ldi or mdi) Android will try to adjust the images but not always works fine.
Hope it helps.

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