According to this
there are four size screens, small, normal, large and xlarge. So these qualifiers correspond on specific screens. For example, normal qualifier is a 3.7inches screen and small is a 2.7inches screen. So, what happens with the others sizes? How does my app cover other sizes, like 3.3inches or 3.2inches for example?
The screen sizes you mentioned are meant to be ranges. For instance, a 3.3 inch screen would probably fall into the 'normal' category , as it is bigger than the 2.7, but less than 3.7. now that said, there are some minor changes in terms of pixel density and that kind of thing, but the idea behind the screen sizes they chose is that there isn't a whole lot of difference between a 3.2 inch screen and a 3.3 inch screen, so if you write your layout properly (using relative widths, etc.) then your app should look the same whether you are on a 3.2 or 3.3. The reason they add in all those sizes for the SDK is that you might want to have more information shown or have things laid out differently if your consumer is using a really small screen vs a really large one (like a tablet). For the most part, however, relative layouts are king - don't use hard coded pixel values for sizing of view elements if you can avoid it, and keep your layout fluid - that way all screen sizes can be supported with minimal work and testing on your part.
Its not like that
2inch to around 3.7 inch comes under small screen
around 3.5 to 4.5inches is normal
where 4 inches to 7 inches means large screen
and 7 inches or more comes under xlarge screen
You can't cover all sizes. You can read this article - http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
Related
I am new to designing for android apps, and i have seen layout folders being split into four folders
1)layout-small
2)layout
3)layout-large
4)layout-xlarge
But i dont know which type of devices go into which of the above folders.There are many devices shown in the graphical layout.For example the 10.1 inch tablet would go into the xlarge folder.The 7 inch tablet would go into the layout-large.What about devices of other sizes?How to be sure which goes into which?Is there any scale for it?Please help!
You're most likely over-thinking this. What kind of app are you making exactly?
Just to put things in perspective, below are the official size distributions as of November 3rd, 2014.
And even then, if you follow best practices, it's not a given that a normal layout can't work for other sizes. It's just something that you need to test for, just in case the end result at different sizes doesn't look quite right to you.
You can use:
res/layout – def
res/layout-small res/layout-normal
res/layout-large
res/layout-xlarge
Or:
res/layout-sw200dp
res/layout-sw600dp
res/layout-sw800dp
sw - smallest width
You can read about this here
The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the screen; usually referred to as dpi (dots per inch). For example, a "low" density screen has fewer pixels within a given physical area, compared to a "normal" or "high" density screen.
so basically i use to design the application for the simple layout file and using the Relative layout it fits for all the screen sizes
when you adjust the weight of the view as
android:weight="0.40"
this fits for all the screens according to their screen weights. so try using relative layout and use weight.
trying to get my head around screen sizes so my app looks the same on different devices.
I have two devices a galaxy s3 and a galaxy tab 8. both have the same resolution screen 720 x 1280 but the s3 is 4.7 inches while the tab is 8 inches
When I do a linear layout I set padding to 130 at the top so that the first textview is 130 pixels from the top so the image on the background is not obscured.
This is fine on the s3 but when I load it on the tab the padding needs changing to 190 pixels for it to look the same.
I cant get my head round if the height of the screen resolution is the same (1280) on both devices why do i need larger padding on the screen
is there a way of working out how to make the textview appear on the same location on both devices
Any help appreciated
Mark
Yes there is a way.
First off all you should use DP or SP unit instead of PX. The DP unit have in consideration the size of the screen and the screen resolution. You can see more in here:
What is the difference between "px", "dp", "dip" and "sp" on Android?
Also you can create a folder in res and add different sizes for different devices.
Example:
You already have the folder 'values' with the file 'dimens.xml' in there you can add margins and sizes variables.
If you create the folder 'values-large' and copie the file 'dimens.xml', you can change the sizes of the variables and maintain the name.
In devices 'large' it will load different values from the rest of the devices.
You can see all documentation in here: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html
Hope it helps you.
You need to add 2 different layouts for 2 different screen sizes. In fact you can provide multiple screen support limited only by your considerations. You can customize layout according to the screen sizes. Here is the official documentation to help you get going.
First of all, you need to use dp instead of px to do these kind of stuff. The reason the result is wrong is that the number of dots per inch on the s3 is much higher than that of the galaxy tab 8. You should really read this link to understand more.
[http://www.captechconsulting.com/blog/steven-byle/understanding-density-independence-android][1]
I developed my app on a Samsung GT-P7510 (10.1" WXGA 1280x800 pixels). When I download to the Nexus 7 (7" 1280x800 pixels) the buttons that I use appear to be about the same physical size. The Nexus buttons are about 95% of the Samsung buttons. The rest of the screen seems to work OK- the text is in the right location and is proportionately smaller because that is defined in terms of screen height.
All my button sizes are defined using "dp" settings in the XML layout files. I would have expected that with the same pixel ratio the buttons would scale. I am obviously misunderstanding this. What setting would I use to get the buttons to scale?
Why do you think Android should scale your app without anything that you tell it to do?
"dp" simply makes things look the same across devices with different densities (higher density makes use of more pixels) . It won't make things larger or smaller, and it's a good thing since you don't want text to be either huge or too small to be able to read.
For text, BTW, it's usually better to use "sp" so that the user might be able to change its size (because people might have eyes problems to read small letters).
If you wish to scale things, you can either create your own mechanism (like this one) or use openGL .
I have designed attached screens for my app. The app targets android 1.6 and above. Currently the app is running on majority of hdpi and mdpi devices and few devices having some odd resolution like 1024x600 with 169 dpi, 1024x600 with 179 dpi, 1024x600 with 240 dpi. I have provided alternative layouts to support multiple screens in below mentioned folders.
layout: Default layout resources.
layout-hdpi: For hdpi screens. Few layouts in my projects need to be specifically optimized for this.
layout-mdpi: For mdpi screens. Few layouts in my projects need to be specifically optimized for this.
layout-large: Default layout resources for large screens.
layout-large-hdpi: Layout resources for hdpi screens having resolution 1024x600
layout-sw400dp-v11: This is mainly for 7" tablet. Only devices running Honeycomb or above can recognize this.
Now I also need to add support for qHD screens(540x960 having 256 dpi or similar). Below is the example screen I need to design and add support for qHD screens. This screenshot is taken on HTC Incredible S having resolution of 480x800 with 240 dpi.
I have designed layout for qHD screens so that it will look same on those screens as well.
Now, I have below questions:
1. Am I having right directory structure for providing alternative resources considering I need to support hdpi, mdpi and above mentioned odd screens? If not, how should I provide alternative resources as for those screens? I really need to design separate file so that the UI looks the same across multiple screen resolutions and densities.
2. qHD Screen are having 256 dpi. That means those screens are hdpi screens. I already have resource for hdpi screens which looks as above on most of the devices. but when I view it on qHD screens, it looks like below screenshot. So, how do I provide alternative resource for qHD screen such that it won't affect my current layout resources which are showing good on most of the devices?
#Espiandev
A qHD, hdpi device has a display-independent pixel (DIP) screen size of 360x640, whereas the Incredible S's is 320x533 hence why some of the images are higher up the screen relative to others. So essentially, the qHD device can show more stuff that the Incredible S, per screen. See here for an explanation of DIPs and some more tips
-- Thank you for this insight. I am aware of this. Also I have read post by Dianne Hackborn,; "New Tools For Managing Screen Sizes" - http://android-developers.blogspot.in/2011/07/new-tools-for-managing-screen-sizes.html
From what it looks like, you're currently using some margin or padding above the goal/gain/to go parts, I'd instead suggest changing their gravity to bottom (i.e. align them to the bottom of your screen) and then use a margin or padding below the item.
-- No I am not using padding or margin for these parts. Its a relative layout where goal/gain/togo buttons are below that meter tape button. As you have suggested setting gravity to bottom and have bottom padding; yes, I had tried that as well but then distance between that meter tape button and these circles increase and I have to modify sizes and margins between those glasses, button below that and meter tape button which created different layout file. When you view this screen on small screen devices, views will overlap as small screen devices can show less views.
But I'd work on making your app adaptable to screens rather than trying to divide screen sizes up like this, as you shouldn't really need separate layout resources for mdpi, hdpi etc.
-- I agree that Normally I shouldn't need separate layout for mdpi and hdpi screen. But the requirement here is that screen should look exactly the same on all screens. Like, all views within that yellow circle should not go outside of that circle. That button at the center should be always at the center. Also, the relative sizes of those 3 little circles at the top and below meter tape button should be same. This left me no choice than creating different layout for mdpi and hdpi screen.
I have created different layout file for qHD screen. Now my question is where do I put that so that qHD devices will use that file and other devices will continue to work as those are working now.
A qHD, hdpi device has a display-independent pixel (DIP) screen size of 360x640, whereas the Incredible S's is 320x533 hence why some of the images are higher up the screen relative to others. So essentially, the qHD device can show more stuff that the Incredible S, per screen. See here for an explanation of DIPs and some more tips.
There's no real way to make the UI look exactly the same on the Incredible S and qHD devices. Unlike iOS devices, screen sizes are very varied. From what it looks like, you're currently using some margin or padding above the goal/gain/to go parts, I'd instead suggest changing their gravity to bottom (i.e. align them to the bottom of your screen) and then use a margin or padding below the item. That way it will hopefully stay aligned with your lunch/dinner boxes. If you post your XML file, that will help diagnose the problems.
Before Android 3.2, I don't believe there is a way to distinguish the two cases above, but after 3.2, you can use the swXXXdp (shortest width) attribute. But I'd work on making your app adaptable to screens rather than trying to divide screen sizes up like this, as you shouldn't really need separate layout resources for mdpi, hdpi etc.
My layout as shown below looks very different depending on what screen size it is projected on to. I'm aware I can improve this somewhat using different layouts for each screen size but considering I have followed the best practises described in the android multiple screen support documentation (using dps, no absolute layouts etc) I wasn't expecting the results to look this bad so I fear there is a further underlying problem.
Code:
http://pastebin.com/D96ue9sc
Your layout is fine and completely as I would expect it. You shouldn't mix up density independent pixels with fully dynamically layouts.
DP just means that the value is calculated according the density types. The density itself has nothing to do with screen resolutions. 60dp are 60px on a mdpi device, it doesn't matter if the screen is full HD or just 480x360. But the result is, of course, very different because the calculated 60px are nothing on a HD screen but a lot on a small one.
You have not other possibility but to provide different layouts according to the screen size/resolution.