I have created an Android app using the standard controls available. It seems that most apps on the market have their own set of controls. It generally looks much better that the standard controls. How do I create better looking control? Can I just apply a theme or should I overwrite the onDraw method? For instance, there is a problem with the default android spinner control details here .
adding custom images is the best way to have more eye-catching GUI, use colorful & meaningful images to your application to appeal users. Custom theme's and styles are helpful too.....
You can apply different themes and styles on the one hand or work with 9patch-drawables - have a look here for details and examples
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I have to create 2 application with almost the same design. But the backend i mean the way i receive data and i make request to my api is not the same. And there are also minor design such as color or bouton placement...
So i wanted to know if it's possible to create and app template i was thinking of creating a library module such as aar that would hold all the design then i would import it in both my application ?
But if i do that, is there a way to to update the design of the library within the app for exemple i assume that i want to change some color i could do it programmatically, but what happen if i want to change some button position or add rounder corner ? Do i have to provide methodes in my library to handle all those cases ? or is there a way to handle those within the app, meaning that the app could change some design of the library it self ?
In the end would like to have the logic in my app then give all information to the template library to render the design. So i would like to know if there is a way to implement such thing and what are the best practices to do it.
I have in my projects two ways.
Library, as you mention. I use it when there are routines that are common to several projects. It is possible to change color patterns and some style details. But it is often plastered.
Flavors - Build Variants https://developer.android.com/studio/build/build-variants
With build variants you can create one project/app with two versions, chandind only wat you need. This option is very good when you want to change color, endpoint, style, show or hide some system functionality. I use it and it's very good.
[SOLVED = I can't add to it, it's based on the active ROM]
Sorry for the vague questioning, I wasn't sure quite how to create it.
I'm wanting to add toggle buttons, or at least other elements into this part of android;
I can't find any documents on how to add to this element of Android, and I'm wondering if we actually can? Does anyone know what this element is even called and can link me to the appropriate android doc?
Thanks!
This is an application that ships with Android, hence you cannot change its behavior. It has a predefined set of elements that can be present on it. If you want to create a custom version of it, you will need to create a custom ROM.
This looks similar to the quick settings screen on my Samsung and it created by the phone manufacturer. You could create a custom ROM, but I don't think this is what you really want.
The closest I think you can get is the notification bar, which can use a custom layout:
Change Notification Layout
Also Take a look at the WatchOn app, which has a relatively complex control embedded into the notification screen:
I'm an amateur android programmer and I really like to code. My main difficulty is to make apps nice.
I came across a simple app, but at the same time, nice: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linksaude.bulas
I would like to know if this app has been designed with some specific plugin/add-on for Eclipse or whatever. It seems to be so consistent and beautifully designed that there must be an answer to simplify the building process of such apps.
Thanks!
I think what you're impressed with is the consistent color theme of the application. It looks like its designers carefully overrode the default design of Android widgets with their own custom scheme.
There is NOT any plugin for development tools that will help you achieve this; however, there are many external tools.
Here is a tool to generate styles for the action bar (the navigation bar at the top):
http://jgilfelt.github.io/android-actionbarstylegenerator
A tool to generate custom colored Holo widgets: (Holo is the theme in modern Android platforms):
http://android-holo-colors.com/
And my #1 favorite resource for this type of customization, this website:
http://www.stylingandroid.com/
These three are more than sufficient to customize an interface like the one you linked to above. Good luck!
Though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this will do the job.
http://developer.android.com/design/index.html
Welcome to Android Design, your place for learning how to design
exceptional Android apps.
There are some DevBytes videos on YouTube of how you make your app beautiful.
The result is an application which looks very modern and beautiful, you should have a look at those videos
What are the possibilities to develop android apps with custom styled widgets (by widgets I mean gui elements like buttons, boxes, menus). I want to develop android apps which don't use the standard look and feel of android. What are the widget libraries available? Are there any other ways to achieve this?
One of the possibilities would be to use html and phonegap and style the app with css. But I'm looking for a non-html and phonegapesque way to achieve this.
Look for example at the apps mentioned on the following page:
http://androidquark.com/top-6-best-alternative-photography-apps-instagram/
did they draw their widgets themselves? Or can such effect be achieved using the themeing mentioned in one of the answers?
You can customize your widgets just about any way you wish. For example, buttons are easy to customize by using ImageButton, and assigning it to any graphic you wish. Here's an example of custom "buttons" in a palette in a soon to be released update to an app of mine...even the crayons are buttons.
You can find a collection of them here:
https://github.com/mingyuan-xia/DevAndroidQuickly
I came across this app and I wonder how was it developed on android (Cause it looks so much like an iphone app), see this screenshot.
Anyone have any idea how to accomplish that type of look on Android?
That's just a matter of styling after all. In general, I would consider it to be discouraged to make your Android app look like an iPhone app. Every platform has its own UX standards, and Android's standards are different from iPhone's. That quite obviously also reflects in the user interface.
Anyhow, you may want to read this article about Android themes and styles. It should get you going with defining own widget styles and stateful drawables to implement custom buttons.
This app obviously uses customized ListViews, ButtonView on the bottom of the screen.
Theses are pretty much standard and common in android apps.
Here is how to create custom components:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/custom-components.html