Are there any tools out there that can convert my dpi units for a baseline densitity into another?
When I define my layout-files I design for a screen with 320x480 dpi units. But then it doesn't fit right on small and large devices.
But since we know the baseline dpi's of ldpi, mdpi, hdpi and xhdpi, why isn't there a tool to just take my width/height definitions in the files and scale them to these different densities, given a default baseline. It should then return the missing layout files, where they would scale right on to these other densities.
It seems straight forward and would save developers tons of time, does anyone know of an existing program to do this?
I created a tool that allows you to scale/adjust your layouts for tablets and small screen devices and made a blog post about it here: http://onemanmobile.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-scale-your-android-layouts-to.html
Basically, defining your layouts in dp units is not enough if you want your app to fit on all devices and tablets, since there's four different "density-buckets". This tool will allow your layouts to be converted into fitting these density buckets.
I hope the blog, tool and answer will help others, I know it felt good to have my app work perfectly on a tablet with the press of a button.
Your question doesn't make any sense. what you're asking for is exactly what Android does.
If you put an image into a folder (like xhdpi) it is automatically scaled for all different device densities.
If you create a layout for a particular class of device, then the correct layout is used for the correct device.
I would advise against designing for specific resolutions of screen - there are too many. Group screens into buckets - e.g. "Phones" and "Tablets", or "Small Phones", "Phones", "Large Screen Devices" - specify criteria, and build layouts for each category. It's a fool's game to build layouts for every screen resolution, there are hundreds of Android devices.
Related
I have got an enhancement of one application. It is developed for 10.1 inch tablet. However it is working nice for tabs with size 10.1’ and for other screen sizes UI is poorly aligned. I need to do the changes in application so that it will be as good as 10.1 inch app for all other screen sizes(>4 inches).
I have few doubts here on my approaches.
1) I have found “size qualifiers” in android developer’s site. How many type of layouts need to use for each screen to make good for all sizes in android world.
Note: All screens in this application are always on land scape orientation. Is size qualifiers still works here?
2) Somewhere I found in “stack overflow “, It is already developed for 10.1 inches so that use percentages and change to every screen size.
100% -> 10.1’
? -> 7’
Which one is good and proper solution for maintenance also? Is there any other best solutions?
There is no hard and fast answer.
It is up to you to determine how many screen sizes you want to optimize for.
I'd suggest optimising for small, mid and large with layout qualifiers:
1) size qualifiers do work in landscape as they assess based on smallest screen width.
layout
layout-sw600dp
layout-sw800dp
2) I dont understand your question... i've never seen percentages used in Android layouts
There are so many different screen sizes that you can adapt your layout to..
In Eclipse's graphical layout you can also choose the screen size and resolution for which you want to develop (you can define the screen sizes and resolution and you will see how the layout looks on each of them).
You can also have several images that will be chosen automatically for each screen size via the drawable folder. You got drawable-hdpi for high density screens, drawable-xhdpi for extra high density screens and so on.. you can change an image to adapt to many of the screen size using Google's Android Asset Studio : http://romannurik.github.io/AndroidAssetStudio/index.html
You should also read the Android developers guide:
http://developer.android.com/training/multiscreen/screensizes.html
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
I'm quite new to Android development, and this time, not a programming question on SO, but rather a question about image design on Android.
I'm a bit lost in the densities of the devices.
The goal of my application is to support as much as possible devices.
Now, I own a Nexus 5 device, of which I know that it's a xxhdpi screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
Since it's an xxhdpi device, the scaling factor is 3, so for simplicity, I divide it by 3 which given me the following resolution on mdpi and on mdpi 1px is equal to 1dp.
Therefore, my Android device is 360 x 640dp.
So, I create a new document in InkScape or Illustrator, whatever you want and create my design based on that particular resolution.
Now, I know that on my device the navigation bar is 48dp and the and the status bar is 25dp, which gives me a content area of 360 x 567 dp.
I've found the information about the screens here: http://www.emirweb.com/ScreenDeviceStatistics.php
What I see on this page is that other devices have another status bar height, another action bar height and that the DP's doesn't equal accross various devices.
So, the question is, how can I design a screen of which I'm sure that it will support all the available screens on the market?
Kind regards
Read this carefully
Supporting multiple screens
Edit :
Create designs for phones of hdpi, mdpi, xhdpi, xxhdpi, xxxhdpi densities and test them on emulator.
Extend designs for 7" tablet and test them on emulator.
Move on to 10" tablets.
Use available online tools to test your design on a variety of screens and create specific folders using "New Size Qualifiers" as mentioned in the doc above to support those devices in which you don't see your design properly
Use Android Asset Studio to scale your icons for different screen densities. For backgrounds, create 9-patch version of your images from the same tool. They will also be generated for different screen densities
I think there's no need to care about the height of the ActionBar's height and all. If you put the images of multiple resolution in the respective drawable folders that's enough. e.g. Same image with different resolutions has to be put in drawable-hdpi, drawable-mdpi, drawable-xhdpi etc. That's all you need to do. Android will automatically choose the image from these folder according to device's screen resolution.
I agree #geekoraul that you'll need to read Supporting Multiple Screens first to give you that foundation.
The take away from it is that dp are Android's way of defining a predictable metric to bridge across multiple device densities. The main goal is to scale them correctly so that it still looks consistent.
A basic workflow would be, select a target density (usually hdpi/xhdpi), create your assets, and use tools to create appropriate resources for the other densities.
Some tools are,
Zeplin - You can create you UI and all assets/resources will be generated for you (dimensions, colours, spacing, drawables etc.)
Android Asset Studio - Generates assets like icons, themes and styles
I'm required to design an apps for android.
And after some reading, I find out android device are divided into few categories in term of resolution, like
small screen
normal screen
large screen
extra large screen
but in different density.
So lets say, now I need to come out a design for normal screen, what resolution that I should use for the "look & feel" of the apps UI.
From the reading, I know android apps are use dp instead of px. So, is it means I have to convert few specific screen size to dp before I start to design ?
Or I just simply target a common resolution for normal screen size like 320x480, provided I will have few set drawable in different density ?
Please correct me if I had mistaken it.
Thank you
Good question, so far we have 5 screen densities :
xxhdpi,xhdpi,hdpi,mdpi,ldpi , now if you have an image resource you will need to create 5 copies of it, its always recommended to start by the xxhdpi till you reach to the smallest,
however you can use online calculators that will calculate the PX and DP for all the densities, i recommend these two tools android developer toolbox and developers tools, and with developers tools you can test the colors, and how are they going to look like in the screen in HEX decimal.
Yes it is true android has following types of devices
LDPI
MDPI
HDPI
XHDPI
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
this link gives you all the description
and ya you have to create icons and images supporting to all the devices resolution wise.
There are various devices with various screen sizes.
Usually, they are mentioned as LDPI, MDPI, HDPI or XHDPI devices.
Although, in coding there are many things to be kept in mind so that you achieve a good uniform design in all your devices !
Refer to this link. It is always good to follow official sites, rather than other tutorials out there. Make a habit of using relativelayout !
Also in the link you can explore many things to get the knowledge of designing in Android.
The designer of our company wants me to give him the resolutions of Android tablets so he will start designing a new app.
I know there are a lot of different resolutions (listed here: Android Tablets computers).
I also know about the division of Android to the different dpi's (ldpi, mdpi, ...).
My questions :
What should I tell the designer? He obviously not supposed to make a version for each resolution. Besides, some of the resolutions listed in the link above are in the same dpi, so which one should I choose?
Considering the fact the app is going to run only on tablets, what are the dpi classes I should use? Only hdpi and xhdpi? Or should I still use all 4 classes and limit the <supports-screens> tag in the manifest?
Is there a resolution that represent each of the dpi classes that I
should stick to?
I've done some reading about 9-patch. What's the point of using it if I still need to deliver a version for each dpi??
Thanks in advance!
The questions contain so much information.
1 Try to read the article and the references in it.
http://www.androiduipatterns.com/2011/11/design-patterns-for-responsive-android.html
You could also have a look at the web site for android design.
http://developer.android.com/design/index.html
In one word, designing for android tablets is more like designing websites. You cannot just design for one resolution.
2 Considering you are developing for tablets, it's necessary to support mdpi and hdpi. If the apps could be installed on phones, maybe xhdpi is also needed. It's not very strict.
3 dpi(dots per inch) = pixels per inch. So dpi is like density, it do not have strict relationship with resolution. But there is still a sheet could help you, try to find it in the following page
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
4 9-patch resource is very useful. With which a small png could stretch to any size without distortion. And it could also help to reduce the size of your resources.
In most situation, you do not have to make 9-patch for each dpi, since it could stretch to any size you want. But if the 9-patch png contain some information itself, like min height and padding, it's necessary to make different versions.
Here is what I would do:
See what combinations you have. There are mostly 3 resolutions for tablets (1280x800, 1024x600, 800x480) and mostly 2 densities (hdpi and mdpi). That is at most 6 versions. Select a few matching your most logical targets (I would choose xlarge mdpi (9" 1280x800), large mdpi (7" 1024x600) and normal-hdpi (4-5" 800x480) and design on these.
Some graphical elements don't need to be designed for each combinations, like backgrounds, may be buttons… Here comes the 9-patch. To be put in drawable-nodpi folder. One resource fits all.
Do one version first on you major target, then see how it fits on the other targets, and consider adjustments from there.
Use ScrollViews if you don't want to position every item pixel-perfectly on each device.
How big is the smallest motorola android's screen, in pixels? I want to know what size I need to make my graphic without it being too distorted by the fill_parent.
Although this doesn't directly answer your question..
Android is the name of the operating system running on Android phones. Different phone models could have different resolutions and pixel densities. Therefore you have to be careful not to hardcode resolution values into your code. It might run well on one phone but poorly on another.
Check out these pages for details about supporting different screens:
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/screens.html
It would be unwise to program for one screen size, especially if you plan on distributing your application later. You should design your application for as many screen sizes as possible.
Instead use nine-patch images and flexible layouts.
If you are designing an icon, the look at the android icon design guidelines and consider high, medium and low density screens. There are different resource folders for these too and android takes care of selecting the appropriate one for the current device.
motorola droid's display size is 480x854 px, according to specs, so it's rather non-standard