Develop Bugs

[GUIDE] App/Graphics Design Tips,Tricks & Warnings

Hi Guys This is a guide on app design guidelines.This can be applied everywhere and not only app design. I have seen many apps that perform awesome but their UI scares people away! This won't be a very detailed guide, only basic pointers on UI Design.
First off i would like to say that User experience and functionality of the app is equally or more important than it's UI. There's no point in a app that has a awesome looking UI but is very laggy or lacks functionality.
Lets begin with a few tips :
Try to make the UI simple and clean with no extra clutter.Hide extra functionality in menus. Keep the main function of the program in the front.
Make the UI flat.Use subtle gradients and shadows. Don't make it too flat like the metro ui,in which you can't distinguish an icon from a button
Use a specific color scheme. Select two to three lead colours. and select 1 or 2 background colours.
Either make it dark themed, or light themed, don't mix the two!
Use transitions. But not too fancy.
Split your app into different parts and provide a easy way to navigate
Fix Whatever you can behind the scenes
Use short Phrases, No one wants to read too much to do a simple task!
Use pastel colours or darker colours. ie. one shade lighter or darker than the original color.
Have contrast between the text color and the background color, making it easier to read.
Tricks :
Don't waste much time making animations. Use LayoutTransitions (android 3.0+)
Test your apps on different screen sizes.
Download the color swatches provided by google -click here
Google is your friend. Go to developer.android.com for more guidelines, application fundamentals etc.
Use good typography. Roboto and helvetica are some of the good fonts. Download roboto - click here
Guide on iconography - click here
Warnings! :
Do not use harsh gradients! for eg.. black to white , It makes the app feel cheap.
Try and stay away from putting ads
Do not let the app make decisions for itself, let it ask the user!
Do not make the app too colourful.
Make sure it runs smooth without jitter.
Don't put too much info. at once!
Don't use too flashy colors that hurt the eye.
Again, this isn't meant to be a very long guide, just a few basic things you should keep in mind while designing. For more detailed guidelines use developer.android.com
If i missed something important let me know! :good:

That's really helpful..
Thank you

wad!e said:
That's really helpful..
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you liked it

Amazing guide! Thanks so much! I'm glad more people love great design.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Hello there, thanks for this guide.
I am no developer so I don't have to mess with the graphics, but I still often wonder : in android programming, where there will always be the probrem of multiple display size / resolution, why isn't the most primary & most basic guideline to use as much as possible vector graphics instead of bitmap based graphics ? wouldn't it save a huge amount of hassle of having to make gfx resources for different screen sizes ?
thx in advance

phentex said:
Hello there, thanks for this guide.
I am no developer so I don't have to mess with the graphics, but I still often wonder : in android programming, where there will always be the probrem of multiple display size / resolution, why isn't the most primary & most basic guideline to use as much as possible vector graphics instead of bitmap based graphics ? wouldn't it save a huge amount of hassle of having to make gfx resources for different screen sizes ?
thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it would be easier.
However, you would need a proper library to do that. Android does not support adding *.svg vector graphics by default. So all the conversion of the vector graphics need to be done manually. (There are some libs out there, but they do not support all features of *.svg graphics.)
For basic things there is support to do that using the standard Android development APIs provided by Google (declaring drawables in xml files) but it will not be enough for shapes which are more complicated than lines, rectangles or circles or a combination of those.
Addititionally the conversion of vector graphics to bitmaps (graphics consisting of single pixels) would need much processing power and would slow everything down.
Hence *.png and *.9.png files are still the standard way to do that.
@TechMasta: By the way, great guide.

TechMasta said:
Try and stay away from putting ads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No ads? How does one go about monetization then? Don't get me wrong. I'm a Windows and Windows Phone developer. I was thinking of porting my apps to Android. I'm just getting started. But I'm using Windows Azure for which I do have to pay for. How should I go about those expenses?

TechMasta said:
Do not let the app make decisions for itself, let it ask the user!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes it should. However, the user should be able to change the default behaviour. Or as the android design guidelines express it:
Decide for me but let me have the final say
Take your best guess and act rather than asking first. Too many choices and decisions make people unhappy. Just in case you get it wrong, allow for 'undo'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(http://developer.android.com/design/get-started/principles.html)
Great guide, though.

akshay2000 said:
No ads? How does one go about monetization then? Don't get me wrong. I'm a Windows and Windows Phone developer. I was thinking of porting my apps to Android. I'm just getting started. But I'm using Windows Azure for which I do have to pay for. How should I go about those expenses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can put ads if you want. Just don't bombard the user with them, place them in a way it does not interrupt or come in the way of the user when he is using your app

phentex said:
Hello there, thanks for this guide.
I am no developer so I don't have to mess with the graphics, but I still often wonder : in android programming, where there will always be the probrem of multiple display size / resolution, why isn't the most primary & most basic guideline to use as much as possible vector graphics instead of bitmap based graphics ? wouldn't it save a huge amount of hassle of having to make gfx resources for different screen sizes ?
thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With google's plugin for eclipse you can add your graphics in multiple resolutions by Copying your layout from "layout" folder of resources and paste it in the "layout-land", "layout-xlarge" etc.

SahilC said:
Amazing guide! Thanks so much! I'm glad more people love great design.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you liked it

Thank you very much, very useful information.

Thx for it mate I will develop good think
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

Looks good

graphics design
Thank you for this information about web design. Really nice.

Good set of tips for the first version of an app!
The next level of designing should ideally be with testing different design variations via split testing.

Making Decisions
TechMasta said:
Do not let the app make decisions for itself, let it ask the user!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hai,
Thanks for your guide. But I am having a different opinion from one of your warnings.
Let the app make decisions by itself, for example when user deletes an item DELETE it. But do provide an option to UNDO it. Showing another dialog to confirm it, in your words "ask the user", is redundant.
Because providing too many options makes the user overwhelmed in an unexpected way. Choose the best/defaults for your app and provide some ways to configure them [Ex : Colors, Themes, Font size etc]

Ahamed.M said:
Hai,
Thanks for your guide. But I am having a different opinion from one of your warnings.
Let the app make decisions by itself, for example when user deletes an item DELETE it. But do provide an option to UNDO it. Showing another dialog to confirm it, in your words "ask the user", is redundant.
Because providing too many options makes the user overwhelmed in an unexpected way. Choose the best/defaults for your app and provide some ways to configure them [Ex : Colors, Themes, Font size etc]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. This can also be found in the Android design guidelines:
Decide for me but let me have the final say
Take your best guess and act rather than asking first. Too many choices and decisions make people unhappy. Just in case you get it wrong, allow for 'undo'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(Source: http://developer.android.com/design/get-started/principles.html#simplify-my-life)

a
nice

Nice Tips
These tips are very useful. One should keep in mind while dealing with apps whether in Android or iPhone.

[APP][2.1+][Beta] Pho.to Lab - photo effects, frames and montages

Hi everyone!
We're looking for testers for our photo processing app named Pho.to Lab. It's a collection of more than 500 photo effects. These are mostly photo frames and photo montages. All the effects are applied automatically, so the app works more like Instagram filters rather than Photoshop. Warning: it needs Internet connection to process photos. If you're going to use cellphone data, you better not.
Pho.to Lab has been on the market since 2011, but we have completely redesigned the new version. I've attached some screenshots to compare the versions so you can see how different they are. And this difference is the reason why we are looking for testers.
View attachment 2168443View attachment 2168444
We're looking for feedback on two things. The first one is, obviously, any kind of bugs. Weird fonts, erratic shadows, stuff like that. You know,he app redesign can work bad on devices with extremely small or large resolutions or ppi. The second thing you could tell us is if you ike the app design. Was it obvious how to use it? Did the app do what you expected?
To get access to the app, join XDA Android App testers community or Pho.to Lab Beta community. Then follow this link and, pretty please, read what Play Market says you. Just in case you don't feel like reading it: opt-in first, then click the link below, then click 'Install' button.
Feel free to ping me anywhere. This thread, PMs, comments in one of the communities, and G+ messages are welcome. And please remember that I live in Eastern Europe. If you're from America and you're posting your comment in evening, I might very well be sleeping. So don't worry if I don't answer your questions or comments immediately, I'll definitely get back to you a little later.
Please check out Pho.to Lab and thank you!

ROM Building: The Basics Part II

Welcome to Part II of the basics of ROM building.
If you have not had a chance yet, please check out this link. This should be followed after all of the "files" are gotten from the first part of this Trilogy of tutorials. Okay enough Lord of the Rings, the true trilogy (nerd reference may be criticized below, I preferred the matrix until the third one lol) I digress.
So, we have the files we downloaded them, Red bull/Rockstar/Monster/Bawls, whatever your legal poison. Let's set up working directories.
Organization is critical to the development process. I mean, I only realized this after I started modifying. I mean wow, it was so much easier once I started to record notes and logs.
To begin, always go to a root of a hard drive
Create a folder called
Rom
Tools and then create a new folder called Smali and APKTOOL
Multimedia and then create a new folder called Pictures and Sounds
So we have created 5 folders, do you need 5? No. Do you need 20? It doesn't matter, do what you are comfortable with. It is about staying organized.
Take the ROM you have selected from the first Basics Rom Tutorial. I assume for (hint hint) simplicities sake you chose a DeOdexed rom version of the Sprint S3 MD4 rom. Freeza Thank you. It will be in a zip file
Called: MD4_update_FULL_DeOdex.zip
Rename it to MD4.zip, feel free to call it whatever you want (remember feel comfortable). I will refer to it as MD4 from now on for simplicities sake.
So you have 7-zip installed right? Uh Oh, check, make sure that is ready to go before we start.
I cannot go into that tutorial because....well come onnnnnnn is it really that hard to press next 10 times or less ?
Extract all the files to MD4_Version_1
Oh yeah, we will be making hundreds of versions if you want. Trust me later down the line, after each mod is good, you can just continue naming them in increments. But version control should always be implemented in case you mess something up. So the logic is:
Make 1 mod or set of mods, try mod, if it works keep using that version as your base version and keep going until you are ready to try it again. Mind you it is time consuming but the only way you truly learn this backwards art of reverse engineering.
So lets look at this disaster. I mean it's overwhelming so do not think you are King of the Hill or Any hill. Maybe a mole hill because this a very complicated system in front of us.
Let's analyze the anatomy, BTW, I do not even know what everything does or is, but by all means, ask questions and we will find out. A forum is meant to voice opinions and feedback to those opinions.
The root folder has 2 folders and 2 files
META-INF
system
boot.img
installbusybox
The META-INF folder is extremely important. It contains useful information about signatures and is very necessary for android to" say its official software" remember the idea of this folder, not its contents. I do not mess with this META-INF but there are so many all over the place down the road that we will need to know it plays an important role.
The system folder has every file that we are going to modify, we will hit this folder harder than a head crab being hit by another "delay" at Valve.
The boot.img is an important file for booting up android. We will not be touching that right now. Can you? Sure but hell, don't bother with it for this tutorial. If you know all about ROM mods like some of our bad-ass developers ( yes Cyanogen all of you are badass), Stop reading get to better pastures.
The installbusybox should be there for tools for ROM modifications. It is basically a set of functions that makes Android have teeth. I will not be using it right now but we can keep going. The best tools collected into one so do not delete or modify
Lets get to the meat, the big shabang, the wholy mole(for my Latin friends), the kabosh(for whoever knows what that is)
System
The sub folders are:
app: Contains all the apps that come with the ROM. Remember android operates by utilizing apps for different functions. Modify the files in here can be good and bad, we can make the best tweaks ever here or ruin everything. Be very careful, I have had boot hangs happen to these files
bin: This folder appears mysterious but it contains important files, the binary files. Complexity gets checked right here. This folder is extremely sensitive, I have not modified this folder just yet but when I feel like bricking my phone like a gravity gun dropping combine soldiers, I will get to this asap.
cameradata: Contains important files for camera raw data to JPEG conversion, I do not mod this folder.
csc: This is a jewel, it contains Consumer Software Customization. It has multiple XML files that can be edited and modified critical settings for various functions. Very nice to start your ROM customization here, but not the easiest, lets ease in with another folder first.
etc: This folder contains critical data storage. It has things like the hosts file which will allows you to block ads(cough cough, youtube) and many other files. This folder can brick your phone. Lets not get crazy here...yet
fonts: Pretty obvious, fonts for the ROM, oh and it requires True Type Fonts so contact your local free repository for those.
framework: This folder is an important folder, almost just as important as the app folder
hdic: Language files they are based off the first 2 initials of the language. Not affecting anyone if we are not trying to pinch each ROM's size down to the bare minimum
lib: Library folder, this has files with extension .SO, they will contain libraries of information for different functions. For example, how to take a "Best Pose" picture mode would have functions in this folder as well as other areas of the rom.
media: Contains the most obvious of sounds and a prime location for android universal sounds and bootimages. The bootimages is a touchy subject, the files are Samsung proprietary which makes them useless to us for modification, but we can make the puppet dance one way or another. The sounds, however, are key as we can isolate sounds when the phone starts up, or mute certain camera functions here, we can even make it sound like all of your favorite games(Yes I did, Mechwarrior boot sounds are acceptable, F.E.A.R. sound effects and some DOOM noises added for ambiance and of course Half life 2 noises for complete nerdgasm)
T9DB: This folder contains T9 predictive text in I believe 3 languages: English, Spanish and Korean, can you get rid of 2 of these sure, but expect problems if you decide later you need them. I mean they are not that large in size but at the same time, everyone has their own way of doing things
tts: This folder houses the Text to Speech programs. They suck. I am sorry but they do, SVOX is better, I love IVONA personally. I always like a british women to wake me up and tell me I am late. But that's me.
usr: This folder is not really meant for us to modify as it has to do with the keyboard layout, grammar recognition and customization. Realistically though, I use Swiftkey and call it a day. So do not hate me if I do not bother with mucking around here. It is useful to some I am sure but nothing I want to dabble in. But by all means, it can be useful for setting well Settings.
vendor: Contains library and binary files for certain features from the vendor, I would say camera related but I do not care for this folder just like people really hated the HEV suit announcing all of its amazing features, are you kidding me that was the best part. Yes I fell 100 feet, please let me know about my fracture and how this suit somehow repaired it. It might have well said "Oww". Nothing wrong with that.
voicebargeindata: From my understanding, Svoice related. No need to bother, that feature is about as useful as a Crowbar in a Gun Fight.
vsc: Version Software Control
wakeupdata: Acoustic and Grammar models contains several languages as well
xbin: Has busy box and Super User, a useful tool to become well super.
build.prop: Very sensitive file that is magical and detrimental. There is a lot of false promises on performance with this one. We will dig through this one carefully.
CSCVersion.txt: Should have the model number of your phone
SW_Configuration.xml XML file with more model number configuration
Please feel free to let me know what is understood or not.
This run down allows us to attack the appropriate folders for the next parts
Before we even begin with the complicated mods, let's attack the basic mods first.
The media Folder then go to audio, there is 4 folders
alarms
notifications
ringtones
ui
The first 3 folders you can place anything you want inside. They each correspond to the default ringtones you would like in the phone. I recommend using .ogg files or .mp3 files, you can use Audacity to modify your sounds. Sometimes the length of the sound plays an important role. Short sounds should be kept short for a reason. If you play a noise and its barely half a second, do not make it 4 seconds long because it will sound ridiculous longer than what is meant to sound. Taking a picture while hearing Puff Daddy's Come with Me can be quite awkward but hey its all about your ROM, your choice, your likes. Who the hell is going to tell you that you cannot have a sound of a crowbar whacking a headcrab while in the middle of a busy subway.....besides the police. This works similarly to the situation of ringtones, keep them full blown songs and I have noticed some lag. Do not be discouraged, but most modern phones end the call after about 30 seconds. This time limit has to do with how long the phone is takes to find the phone and ping it. Of course, I safely recommend 45 seconds of your song to cover yourself.
Take note that there are 3 files in these folders that are set to default (ringtone, alarm and notification). We can change that with the build.prop but that's after we mess with the ui folder that contains the User Interface Sounds.
Alert_on_call.ogg: An Alert when you are on call. This should be subtle noise
Auto_focus.ogg: Tricky one, I modified this, still makes an auto focus noise. Clearly a trick has been devised
Auto_focus_error.ogg: Same as above
Call_Connect.ogg: When the call first connects
Cam_Start.ogg: Video Recorder start noise
Cam_Stop.ogg: Video Recorder stops noise
camera_click.ogg: Camera Click noise
Camera_click_short.ogg: Camera Click noise
Camera_empty.ogg: Camera related
camera_focus.ogg: Tricksie this one is, mute and still makes noise, will discuss where noise is coming from
Camera_Timer.ogg: Timer for camera countdown
Camera_Timer_2sec.ogg: 2 Second timer
Charger_Connection.ogg: When you plug in your phone to charging port
Dialer_new.ogg: Tricky one will get to later
Dock.ogg: When you put the phone on dock, useful to distinguish from charger_connection.ogg
Effect_Tick.ogg: I have heard it whilst changing pictures but not sure
Highlight.ogg: I Silenced it, and "I dont know whhhyyy"( Can you guess which comedian said this line and if you know it say it in his voice)
HoverPointer.ogg: I Silenced it, and "I dont know whhhyyy"( Can you guess which comedian said this line and, if you know it, say it in his voice)
Insert.ogg: Google Voice Noise
KeypressDelete.ogg: Default keyboard, I do not use this
KeypressReturn.ogg: Default keyboard, I do not use this
KeypressSpacebar.ogg: Default keyboard, I do not use this
KeypressStandard.ogg: Default keyboard, I do not use this
Lock.ogg: When you press the power button and it instantly locks. This noise will play. Mechwarrior noise here
LowBattery.ogg: Doom low amm noise here to indicate I should have brought a charger becuase my battery is low
New_chat.ogg: Chat software related, I got rid of that junk but thats for another tutorial
PowerOff.ogg: Most people silence this as it is the noise that powers off the phone, I got creative here but you do not have to.
PowerOn.ogg: Most people silence this as it is the noise that powers on the phone, I got creative here but you do not have to.
S_HW_Touch.ogg: The HW indicates Hardware touch, basically the buttons and any touch screen action
S_SIP_Backspace.ogg: Backspace stuff
Sent_chat.ogg: See New_chat.ogg
Shutter.ogg: Silence this for sure if you do not want noise but really silence everything camera related here and it wont be 100%. So just do it
Shutter_multiple.ogg: Burst shot related
TW_Battery_caution.ogg: Any TW has to do with TouchWiz related actions. This one is for battery
TW_Call_Disconnect.ogg: The tricky thing is, some of these are controlled by another piece of software, this one is one of them
TW_Error.ogg:
TW_Silent_mode_off.ogg:
TW_SIP.ogg: Sounds like the default tapping sound for the rom's built in keyboard
TW_Touch.ogg: The default TouchWiz touch noise. Tricky little one this was as I had to verify there was no other location for the droplet noise, it turns out there is, so stay tuned as we dig into the apps and locate where the rest of the sounds are
TW_Unlock_Glass.ogg: Gallery Noises for file management
TW_Unlock_Puzzle.ogg: Gallery Noises for file management, not sure why I heard these exact noises in the gallery app other than they are linked
TW_Volume_control.ogg: The volume rocker button on the side, i mean logically there is only one choice, the Half Life 1 Medical Bay MedShot sound, okay maybe too annoying sure, but bada$$
Undock.ogg: Removing the phone from the dock that so few of us get because you know it doesn't fit my big case, or expanded battery or whatever. You know what, custom solutions are too expensive but trust me people do make the docks that accommodate bigger cases
Unlock.ogg: When you type in your Pin/Password/Pattern, the sound that it makes to unlock
VideoRecord.ogg: Camera video start recording noise, of course, I silenced this one as well
So this takes care of some of the noises, the problem is, Samsung software actually hides the rest of the noises. They are actually hidden away in the APK files in the system/app folder. Do not worry, in future parts of this Discovery channel special on Black Mesa, we will be investigating why they detonated a nuke in the first place if it didnt do anything to stop the invasion. I mean future parts of this series
So where do we go now? Well modify the sounds you want or add the ringtones you want. But something that I felt was important was that certain noises be set when I reboot my rom by default. No I do not want that stupid Samsung whistle! NO ONE DOES SAMSUNG!.
Lets set the default sounds on ROM start up, we will need to modify the build.prop file
This file contains an amazingly large set of instructions for the start-up of the phone and features in the phone. it is therefore, very sensitive to screw-ups. Hopefully, notepad++ was installed.
Navigate in Windows to the working directory of your ROM in our case MD4/system/ there is a file there that says build.prop
Let's open that up in notepad++, we should see some intimidating pieces of code or more like lines of text that tell the phone what and when to do something.
A caution to all, the build.prop has been synonymous with words like "increase performance", "maximize battery life" and other claims that are unfortunately sometimes not always true, for every mod someone makes to this file, someone traces the code to a Gingerbread rom that is useless on Jelly Bean, or an old reference to ICS(Ice Cream Sandwich),
I would highly suggest we not dabble too much on this. XDA has some great people who have found great information about the build.prop file. This link, user Chris_84 has put a great Wikipedia together on this so I will not try and explain each one. But there are so many other links that can show a post of good tweaks and bad tweaks and useless tweaks that I will not go into. Let's instead focus on our start-up sounds
The build.prop code we will scroll to with the ctrl+f button should be enough for us to get started is
Code:
ro.config.alarm_alert=
ro.config.ringtone=
ro.config.notification_sound=
Each of these do have a word after the equal sign, which means if you configure the correct file in the correct folder(hint hint) alarm, ringtone,notification folders we talked about earlier, all you have to do is add the name of the file exactly as it appears, please only use .ogg files here. MP3 files also work but you know just do it okay. I don't ask Alex why she never made a move on me, I just know she cant have a meaningful relationship with a guy who doesn't even say hi, that's a little creepy but you know and I know she loves Freeman alright.
As an example, just in case my rant did not make any sense,
let's say you put the following sound in the system/media/audio/ringtones folder kick_push_lupe.ogg
you would put in the code the following
Code:
ro.config.alarm_alert=
ro.config.ringtone=
ro.config.notification_sound=[B]kick_push_lupe.ogg[/B]
And that's how simple that is.
So you say you have ranted on too long. Sure I have, but that's not going to be the end here. We will be modifying the rest of this rom business in the more difficult lesson which is part III, that will take the longest because we want to have fun. And I still have some Freduian issues with my role model Gordon Freeman that I need to bring out. Anyway
Also, before I go, you might ask, how do you execute TEST BATCH ALPHA-TRON!.
Go Back to your Home Folder MD4_Version_1/. You should see the folders we discussed earlier
META-INF
system
boot.img
installbusybox
Select all of those files and right click the mouse button to get a context menu from 7-zip or WinRAR and click Add to archive. Make a ZIP FILE ONLY. You can choose to compress the file if you want, I just click fastest compression options available and proceed.
When the zip file is in hand, I take the file and put it on the SD Card root directory. When it transfers(in about 5 minutes), you can open the CWM (clockworkmod) recovery or the TWRP recovery and install the ROM. Sure I did skip some steps here on how you get these recoveries and the like but this tutorial is about ROM modification and the sort not the super basics, you need those to even be reading these. If you need to get those going, let me know in the comments and we can spool that up in part III.
I do not know how many parts this will take, but it is time consuming, i have to research this stuff and recall my notes. I know the spirit of the guide is in the right place but please be patient. I will not fail you Krypton(YES I LIKED MAN OF STEEL, let the downvotes begin, oh wait not imgur).
I appreciate all feedback, do not get me wrong, and I will work whenever I am free to add as many of these parts as I can. I do want to help anyone out who has their own twist on what they want their ROM to do. It is the least I can do to payback this great community and assist one person or inspire one idea. That is all it took for me to get going, the next part will also have a very heavy hand in taking code from other people for examples of mods. I want to say from now, I did not do any of these codes, I used common sense to implement somehow into my own rom mods. They deserve all credit as they are amazing coders/crackers/hackers/whackers/ whatever you name it they truly deserve the praise. I am just compiling their logic into our ROM that we are building together. And has anyone seen the YouTube channel Vsauce, that channel is AWESOME.

Again, thank you. Very, very helpful.
-------------------------
Sprint Galaxy S3
Need Help? PM
Hit the "Thanks" button if I helped you!

This is great. Man u really put this down in a way that is really understandable!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Appreciate it
Thanks guys, seems you are tracking my every word, I posted the other ones it seems you hit those up as well. Appreciate it and everyone, please let me know if something did not make sense, we got a great pool of people that can help out.

[Collection] Zooper design ressources (Fonts, Wallpaper, Device Frames,...)

This collection is meant to be a central gathering point for anyone who is looking for some sources of material to use in their widget design. I'll start it with some of my personal favorites in the different categories and hopefully other can help this grow through their contributions :fingers-crossed:
If you have questions concerning the collection or if you want to name some sources of your own, so they can be added to this collection, please feel free to post in this thread.
If you are looking for tutorials, guides and references for Zooper itself, please have a look at my other thread [REF] Zooper Guides, References and Advanced Parameter Snippets or if you have a general question about Zooper though, please check the General Zooper Forum or the Q&A thread. Thank you for helping to keep this thread on topic :good:
Categorized List of Ressources - Post 2
Device Frames - Post 3
Changelog
Code:
1.00 - Initial Release (without Icons category)

Ressources
Apps
First I want to start off with some app that I use nearly every time when designing/working with Zooper. These are just my personal favorites and if you have an alternative app for the same job, please post about it so I can add it to the list.
Gallery/Imagepicker: QuickPic - For the currently best available gallery app on Android. Simple design, not too overloaded with functions and it just works great
Wallpaper: Wallbase HD Wallpapers - The app version of one of the wallpaper sites. Works really well, great selection and a good search function
File manager: ES File Explorer - My go-to file manager on Android. Root capabilities, tabbed file browsing, advanced functionality like zip/unzip, all that and more rolled into one awesome, free package.
Archive manager: ZArchiver - Can unpack nearly any know compression format. Essential if you download stuff directly to your device and your file manager doesn’t support compressed archives.
Fonts
For fonts, my personal favorite is Font Squirrel. They have a huge collection of great looking, free fonts and the best part: all their fonts are guaranteed to have a commercial compatible license. So if your are looking for a nice font to replace Roboto in your designs go check it out: http://www.fontsquirrel.com
While Font Squirrel is my main source for fonts, there are other noteworthy sites I like to check for fonts:
Google Fonts - Also has a good collection of free fonts and a pretty niffty search (Google, d’uh ), that helps you narrow down those choices https://www.google.com/fonts/
Dafont - My main site before I discovered Font Squirrel, as it has a very broad collection of different types of fonts. http://www.dafont.com
To use your new discoveries, download them to your phone. Most times they will be in a ZIP, so you’ll need a filemanager with the abilitie to extract these or use an app like ZArchiver (see Apps category). The extracted or downloaded fonts should be in either TTF or OTF format (check the file extension). Copy those files to either /sdcard/fonts/ or /sdcard/ZooperWidget/Fonts/ and they will show up the next time you are going to select the font familly on a Text or Rich Text module.
Wallpaper/Backgrounds
Here are some sites I check if I’m looking for a new background or pictures
http://www.simpledesktops.com/
http://www.thepaperwall.com
http://wallbase.net
http://www.deviantart.com
Icons
Not yet finished...

Device Frames
To show of your newly created widgets you probably want to share a screenshot. While you could just upload and be done with it, it certainly looks so much nice if you have the frame of your device around it. So here are some possible ways how to do this.
Device Frame Generator
DFG is an app to generate your device shoots directly on your devic, no other tools necessary. It currently supports the Nexus range, HTC One, HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and Motorola Xoom
Website: http://f2prateek.com/android-device-frame-generator/
Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.f2prateek.dfg
Device Art Generator
If you are on a PC and own a Nexus device, you can also use this website to generate your device screen shot. Just drag and drop the picture onto the device you want and you can download the now framed screenshot instantly. This works with Firefox and Chrome and needs no installation.
https://developer.android.com/distribute/promote/device-art.html
Photoshop/GIMP
Probably the most versatile, even if not the fastest, to make your screenshots stand out is to go with an image editing software like Photoshop or GIMP. For those there is a nearly endless amount of really nice, high quality templates out there. Here is a list of some great sources:
http://www.dribble.com - Dribbble is probably one of your best sources for this. Just do a search like “<device> psd”, for example “nexus 4 psd” and you’ll find lots and lots of gorgeous templates for you to work with.
http://www.deviantart.com - If you can’t find what you are looking for on dribble, you can also try the same search on deviantart. This will probably yield more screenshots then PSDs but there ought to be some gems to discover here too.
[Devices][PSDs] Flat Designs.. Another great source is this nice collection of flat designed device PSDs for a lot of different devices from Samsung, Motorola, Sony, etc.right here on XDA by Recognized Themer DD-Ripper

Reserved
For future use...

Reserved
... and one more. You never know

Looking forward to your icons section... I've found your posts and examples immensely helpful with the tinkering I've done. Great work with the guides! :thumbup:
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Shoow Great

Free mobile prototyping and UI mockup tool

A couple days ago I found a great online tool where you can upload your PSD files to create a prototype of your app (or website).
It's called Invision. Website link: https://www.invisionapp.com/
Get high-fidelity in under 5 minutes. Upload your design files and add animations, gestures, and transitions to transform your static screens into clickable, interactive prototypes.
I really recommend this if you work with customers!

It's good, i've already tried it. But it's not very comfortable to create mocups on your phone, that's why i prefer another designers toolbox.

I like about easy way to make beautiful UI

I tend to just mock stuff up in Fireworks, it's just such a friendly little drawing tool. Yeah I know, it's a bit low tech but it works for me.

thanks for the thread

tonesapp said:
A couple days ago I found a great online tool where you can upload your PSD files to create a prototype of your app (or website).
It's called Invision. Website link: https://www.invisionapp.com/
Get high-fidelity in under 5 minutes. Upload your design files and add animations, gestures, and transitions to transform your static screens into clickable, interactive prototypes.
I really recommend this if you work with customers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the share.

Thank you! this website is very helpful