So, I have googled a lot, but still cant quiet grasp the concept. I have 3 folders : xhdpi, lhdpi and mhdpi. I do understand the conversion and downscaling to different dip and screen densities. Android selects resources for the right screen type when the application runs.
But, how do I start? I made a background for my application in Photoshop. The background was defined in 720x1080px and exported as an .png file. I put the .png in the xhdpi folder. Everything worked out fine on my Sony Xperia Z, but when a friend loaded it on his Galaxy 3 the background was "to-small" and did not fit his screen. I assume this is because the bacground was to small.
But how large do I need to make it? What px-sizes should xhdpi drawable resources be to fit every single xhdpi screen?
Would a good approach be to start with the largest size, xhdpi? And then convert the drawables down to mdpi and ldpi later on? If so, I need a starter size in px so I can create the background for the application in Photoshop.
Here is how I use the background : (Note, i changed my height to fill_parent it fixed the "not filling the whole screen problem")
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#drawable/bg_xhdpi" >
</RelativeLayout>
To make PX sizes scale appropriately you will need to scale using the following ratios:
2X for XDPI
1.5X for HDPI
1X for MDPI (baseline
.75X for LDPI
When you are specifying sizes in your code (or XML), use the DP parameter to specify the value (or SP if you are specifying fonts).
for example: android:layout_marginLeft="12dp"
Here is the docs: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html, you will notice this image, and a lot of other details describing this.
You can find in this table a briefing of different devices screen densities and resolutions; according to it, Galaxy SIII is xhdpi with a resolution of 1280 X 720. Besides, you could want considerate to follow compatibility mode guide to avoid rendering issues in multiple screens.
Related
I understand there is plenty of documentation about designing for multiple screen support in Android. and I have read the Android guide here as well as a number of similar questions such as this
However I'm still a little confused as to how I should implement it for my application. I plan to target the following device configurations
Am I correct in thinking I will need to structure the project layouts as follows:
Medium density Normal screens HVGA 320x480 (160dpi):
res/layout-mdpi (320 x 480 )
res/layout-land-mdpi (480 x 320 )
High density Normal screens WVGA800 480x800 (x854) (240 dpi)
res/layout-hdpi (480 x 800)
res/layout-land-hdpi (800 x 480)
But what about the Medium density, large screen devices?
I plan to use sets of both high and medium density drawables too. My primary concern at this early stage is using suitable background images for each layout. For example, to support both the 480x800 and 480x854 sizes, I plan to simply use an ImageView as the background such as:
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/bg"
android:scaleType="center"/>
The 'bg' drawable will always be 480x854 and by using:
android:scaleType="center"
I'm hoping this will take care of those two screen sizes. Whereby the image keeps its original appearance but is centred on the 480x800 screens. I will lose some pixels off the image but as long as the image isn't scaled then that suits my needs.
I plan to have a set of 320x480 assets for the normal screens.
I'm just hoping I'm following the correct procedure here so I appreciate any info/tips from you guys. Thanks in advance
In my experience you don't really need to customize your layout for the small/medium/large/etc screens, as long as you have your drawables for the different densities. Like the documentation says, Android will attempt to render your layout properly on different screen sizes.
By default, Android resizes your application layout to fit the current device screen. In most cases, this works fine. In other cases, your UI might not look as good and might need adjustments for different screen sizes.
The 'other cases' applies only if you really want to change your layout on larger screens.
Using android:scaleType="center" works for me, but it will, like you said, leave empty space around your layout on larger screens if it should fit on smaller screens as well. If you have a fully customized view with 'widgets' that should be placed exactly right, and you don't want to be programmatically determining the scaling and applying the same scaling to your widgets, this is definitely the way to go.
I understand there is plenty of documentation about designing for multiple screen support in Android. and I have read the Android guide here as well as a number of similar questions such as this
However I'm still a little confused as to how I should implement it for my application. I plan to target the following device configurations
Am I correct in thinking I will need to structure the project layouts as follows:
Medium density Normal screens HVGA 320x480 (160dpi):
res/layout-mdpi (320 x 480 )
res/layout-land-mdpi (480 x 320 )
High density Normal screens WVGA800 480x800 (x854) (240 dpi)
res/layout-hdpi (480 x 800)
res/layout-land-hdpi (800 x 480)
But what about the Medium density, large screen devices?
I plan to use sets of both high and medium density drawables too. My primary concern at this early stage is using suitable background images for each layout. For example, to support both the 480x800 and 480x854 sizes, I plan to simply use an ImageView as the background such as:
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/imageView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/bg"
android:scaleType="center"/>
The 'bg' drawable will always be 480x854 and by using:
android:scaleType="center"
I'm hoping this will take care of those two screen sizes. Whereby the image keeps its original appearance but is centred on the 480x800 screens. I will lose some pixels off the image but as long as the image isn't scaled then that suits my needs.
I plan to have a set of 320x480 assets for the normal screens.
I'm just hoping I'm following the correct procedure here so I appreciate any info/tips from you guys. Thanks in advance
In my experience you don't really need to customize your layout for the small/medium/large/etc screens, as long as you have your drawables for the different densities. Like the documentation says, Android will attempt to render your layout properly on different screen sizes.
By default, Android resizes your application layout to fit the current device screen. In most cases, this works fine. In other cases, your UI might not look as good and might need adjustments for different screen sizes.
The 'other cases' applies only if you really want to change your layout on larger screens.
Using android:scaleType="center" works for me, but it will, like you said, leave empty space around your layout on larger screens if it should fit on smaller screens as well. If you have a fully customized view with 'widgets' that should be placed exactly right, and you don't want to be programmatically determining the scaling and applying the same scaling to your widgets, this is definitely the way to go.
I'm working for build the UI of my team's App.
In the beginning, my partner designs UI using Sketch 3.
According to the Android API guide for development Supporting Multiple Screens we known that 1dp = 1px in mdpi.
So we plan to design a basic standard UI in mdpi density. Other density would be automatically fit the position or length if we use dp as our length unit.
The basic UI resolution for designing canvas we use in Sketch is 360 x 640. We've read some articles, some articles said the mdpi resolution for designing standard is 360 x 640, and others said is 480 x 320.
It's really confused. We finally choose 360 x 640, because 480 x 320 is 4:3 aspect ratio not so many Android devices use it.
After we've done our UI, I'm trying to apply it to our app. But I've met some problems with positioning element. For example, our splash page.
Here is our splash page, I can hold Option/Alt to get the distance between edge to out element in Sketch 3. Because the UI sample file was made in mdpi resolution, I can use the length directly.(1px = 1dp in mdpi)
Splash Sample Image
CoolLogo is a ImageView. the whole layout is an RelativeLayout.
I'm using android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" to make ImageView in the center of Layout.
and android:layout_marginTop="268dp" to make it right position according to our UI sample file.
Here is whole layout xml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
style="#style/LaunchPageLayout">
<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:src="#drawable/coollogo"
android:layout_marginTop="268dp"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
Preview on the Nexus 5(5", xxdpi, 1080 x 1920) looks fine. But the ImageView position seems to be incorrect a little bit.
When switch to smaller device such as Nexus One(3.7", hdpi, 480 x 800), the position is totally wrong. it should be in more upside position.
Nexus One Preview Sample Image in Android Studio
I'm confused. How can we get the right position values when we put our element into layout? Doesn't it means we just only to design a UI in mdpi it should fit all density? but if that is ture, why the layout on small devices is wrong? because our sample UI is design in mdpi resolution. I'm totally muddled.
might somebody give me some advices or some best practice to bulid UI?
Thank you.
According to guideline,
Google is not recommend to use absolutely pixel unit to design UI.
We use the method below to design our application in the end.
Share to everybody who started to design Android UI.
Basically, we need an mdpi size canvas, the canvas size is 320px * 480px
We use this resolution as our standard resolution,
including measuring length and size.
And if you ever heard about the design of iOS UI (or macOS).
You'll know that iOS often use 320px * 480px as standard x1 resolution.
When export resources, there will be x1 for standard resolution and x2 for Retina resolution.
Because the Retina resolution is two times of standard resolution.
Just like that, if we use standard resolution, Android will help us to fit on machines with different resolutions.
so we got:
mdpi => x1 (the standard)
hdpi => x1.5
xhdpi => x2
xxhdpi => x3
Theoretically, if we follow standard resolution, we can build layout for any other resolution.
By the way, We can set different dimen values as well.
it will help the layout to be more accurate in visually.
Maybe the best way to build one layout to fit all kind of resolution currently is to use ConstraintLayout.
but this kind of approach sometimes doesn't make sense.
Anyway, designing UI for phone and tablet (or even phablet) always be a good user experience.
I know the Internet is overwhelmed with questions about DPI px inches and so on.
But after several hours of googling my situation doesnt seem to happen to anyone else!
I have 2 devices custom build with android studio which are both mdpi.
BUT one device is 3.65inch and the other device is an 10.1 inch.
I have created a folder with 2 images 250x125 with the dpi set to 160 dpi
If normally I would declare my 2 images in my XML with dp units instead of pixels...I would suppose on both screens the result should be the same right ?
Well it seems the images keep remaining the same size and don't look # how many inch the device is
So to set things clear:
What do I have to change at my resources or my code so that my layout scales identical for different Inch sizes ?
This is my GOOD layout for my mdpi 10.1 tablet :
This is my BAD layout for my mdpi 3.65 device
How can I make it so that even on the 3.65 inch screen the buttons will scale to the same PROPORTIONS as the 10.1. Not the inches...not the pixels...the proportions....
This is my XML File
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:gravity="center">
<Button
android:id="#+id/buttonEnglish"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/english"
android:layout_marginBottom="5sp"
android:layout_marginLeft="5sp"
android:layout_marginRight="2sp"
android:layout_marginTop="0sp" />
<Button
android:id="#+id/buttonNederlands"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/nederlands"
android:layout_marginBottom="5sp"
android:layout_marginLeft="20sp"
android:layout_marginRight="5sp"
android:layout_marginTop="0sp"
/>
</LinearLayout>
I'm desperate...
Thanx in advance
This might help explain the problem you are facing...
You have an image that is 250x125 - that is 250 pixels wide by 125 pixels in height.
You have specified 160 dpi - which means that 1 inch = 160 pixels.
So, both screens are doing what you ask and displaying the 250 pixels across 1.5625 inches. On the large screen it looks "proportionally" correct. On the 3.65" screen the button takes up more than half the screen - just like you asked it to.
If you want the smaller screen to look like the larger screen, then you have three options:
adjust the size of the image and provide 2 image assets (or more for a wider variety of screens). This is why you can have resource folders for mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi, etc. You adjust the pixels in the image to accommodate the screen size.
You use a "weighted" LinearLayout that adjusts the size of the space provided based on the available screen space. For this type of layout you should not worry about performance.
Do runtime scaling of the image based on screen size - use DisplayMetrics to get the size and density of the screen and adjust your image to fit the screen appropriately.
The last option is the most flexible in many ways, because if you end up with a screen that is either very large or very small, you can make adjustments to do things like move buttons or text to another place on the screen (above or below other content). But for your specific problem, any of them will suffice.
There is no need of Designing two xml layout.
You can use Dimension for margin and padding according to device.
You are giving static value for margin.
Use dimen.xml in value folder each device.
Following code in your layout.xml will work for you.
android:layout_marginLeft="#dimen/margin_button"
Value folder name for dimen.xml:
values-mdpi
values-hdpi
values-xhdpi
values-xxhdpi
values-sw600dp
create dimen.xml in each values folder.
and in dimen.xml you have to define value for margin in all values folder but value of that property is different according to device size like this:
values-mdpi
<dimen name="margin_button">20dp</dimen>
values-hdpi
<dimen name="margin_button">23dp</dimen>
like wise in all values folders.
Thanx everyone for the answers. Due to answer from #Iacs I discovered that I had to made changes to my folder structure.
I have completely overlooked the fact that in the /res folder there can be more directories then just the standard "layout" directory. You can create other directories with these names : layout-large, layout-xlarge, layout-small, and so on...
In these folders you can paste your layout.xml and adjust the values...
This is how things look now in my android studio
note the layout folder structure:
And now ofcourse my 2 devices with both the same DPI but different screen size are showing my buttons the way I want them to be showned!
I'm trying to support mdpi, hdpi and xhdpi on my current App. The problem is that I'm fetching images from the web (profile pics). I'm using an imageview with height = 200dp the thing is that even tho I have read tons of tutorials and documentation about dp and dpi, I still don't get them.
So my problem is that on an hdpi phone (atrix 2) the image takes about 1/3 of the screen, which is perfect for me. but on mdpi (galaxy ace) it takes almost 2/3.
What's the best way to set a height for an imageview (from the web, not resources) to support mdpi and hdpi.
thanks
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/expositor_image"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:layout_below="#+id/expositor_info_header"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="-27dp"
android:contentDescription="#string/misc_placeholder"
android:scaleType="centerCrop" />
basically my problem is that the 200dp takes different % of screen on mdpi and hdpi
For starters, you are going to want to set a scaleType (try "center_inside") in your xml definition of the ImageView.
If you provide some code (in particular your layout xml file) I might be able to be of more assistance.
Update
Now, this may not fully be your problem, but it is a piece of it. DP (or DPI, they are the same thing) adjust for the screen density (pixels per inch), not the screen size. That means that an image of 200dp x 200dp will be approximately the same size in inches on both screens, not the same percentage of the screen.
Specs:
Atrix 960 × 540 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_2#Features)
Galaxy Ace 480 x 320 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Ace)
Since the Atrix is hdpi, and hdpi is a 1.5 multiplier, 200dp will take up 300px in real pixels, or approximately 1/3 (300/960) of the screen as you point out.
On the mdpi Ace, the 200dp translates evenly to 200px, which should be closer to 1/2 the screen. However, with the addition of the actionbar taking up screen real estate, it may seem like more.
The best way to deal with very small screens like the ace... well, my normal solution is to not support them very well, at least not on my first pass, as they are pretty rare. But if you want to, the best way is to provide alternate layouts.
For Example:
Create a folder named layout-large (or similar, see: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/providing-resources.html#Compatibility).
Make a copy of your existing xml file in that folder. (name must be exactly the same)
Modify the file in layout/ so that it works better on smaller screens.
Essentially, if the device has a "large" screen or above (where large is basically the standard these days), it will use the layout in the layout-large/ folder.
Otherwise, it will use the default layout in the layout/ folder.
If you think this explanation is not what is happening, please provide screen shots to verify that the layout is in fact not behaving like it should.