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.
Other than seeing stuff that people have submitted on youtube or deviant art, I'm not having much luck finding sites that are specifically for artists on an android (or IOS) platform. I've started on a spreadsheet that lists out the available tools on android and what features they have so they can be compared but I was wondering if there was a site that talks about that kind of thing specifically? I dont find the descriptions or reviews on the play store particularly helpful as the only scratch the surface of the tools functionality and its only after purchasing that you realise its missing x, y or z meaning you need something else as well.
I also like to watch video's of people drawing and would like to see more of them to help me pick up techniques I hadn't considered as a digital newbie.
Any sites you can share with me?
I am getting the Note 8 just so I have the artistic on the go work I want to do. I am looking at photoshop and sketchbook for my drawing needs but like you have not seen much on doing art on android. Maybe its time to start a site
I will post any info I find here that might be interesting to artists.
Sent from my customized Transformer TF300T
There is a Flickr.com account for users of Autodesk Sketchbook to show their works.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sketchbookmobile/pool
rooted stock Galaxy Note 8 GT-N5100
TheNeighbor101 said:
There is a Flickr.com account for users of Autodesk Sketchbook to show their works.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sketchbookmobile/pool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
joined. thanks
macgyver40 said:
Maybe its time to start a site
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no experience in web design but i'd happily contribute if someone else wanted to start something. I've started a comparision document between the different drawing apps which im going to put on google docs this afternoonand hope other can help me fill in the blanks.
hertsjoatmon said:
I have no experience in web design but i'd happily contribute if someone else wanted to start something. I've started a comparision document between the different drawing apps which im going to put on google docs this afternoonand hope other can help me fill in the blanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good, I currently have PS touch an sketchbook installed not sure what samsung included. I will help with any apps or info I can.
I will look into a site for images and forums for android artwork. I only have android so I will only do this this if I can control the site from my note 8. Will post back here about it in a few days, still learning the note an want the weekend to figure stuff out.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk HD
I'm tempted to start a new site using webs.com or something similar specific for mobile tablet artists, but not sure if I will or not yet as it would probably take more upkeep than I'm willing to perform. I mostly use the web while at work but only have limited access and I'm rarely on PC when at home.
Anyone want to help? At the moment the note forums are all seperate but the apps and resources that we all use are common to everyone. My vision is for a front page that would link to various tablet specific resources, guides, reviews etc. List out the tablets with stylus support with links to the xda forums and a forum for people to share there art. discuss apps, techniques etc etc.
I may be able to get this chart finished as well...
Hi. I hope someone can help. I am blind (but have slight vision) and would like the ability to invert my colours by eg a triple click of my volume button. This would help allot when trying to read Web pages.
In ios this feature is standard and I feel that people with visual problems on android could benefit from such a feature.
Cheers.
Hello everyone,
I just got my brand new GT classic, 2 days ago and I can say I'm pretty happy with what I got. Also this is my first smartwatch at all.
Beside that I'm Software developer for over a 10 years in many different aspects, languages, technologies and frameworks. So far I've developed applications for desktop, web and mobile platforms, but now comes real challenge.
I would like to develop app for turning on and off my smart lights in the house, so I can be even more lazy
If anyone has any experience in developing watch apps please let me know more details.
I'm interested in best language (I think I read it's Java, which is one of my strongest programming languages) to develop watch apps, most often framework if there is some specific, API-s from Huawei, if there is some useful and so on. Really every help and details are more than welcome.
Also if anyone interested on pairing during app development, would be possible also. App won't be commercial, and will be free for everyone if I made it some day.
Thank you for your attention, best regards.
Lol. I can't help but I though it was funny to think a way so we can became more lazy lol
Enviado de meu SM-G950F usando o Tapatalk
It's a great idea. If you do a Google home integration instead it would work with everything that already interfaces with that.
So far I have Philips Hue & Hive bulbs/lamps/plugs, and British General plugs and sockets, all working with Google Home. As GH already has links to many smart devices I think linking to that would be possibly simpler as only one connection point?
Maybe also do it for Alexa for those who use that?
That way 2 integrations would cover almost all smart devices that allow connections.
[emoji16]
Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk
This watch is not supporting adding apps. And propably will never be even if Huawei give us access to rom file. Its to much hardware limited. You can only create watch face on it OR create app for android, linux, windows to upload faces, manage options, show notifications to use it instead Huawei Health.
Hi everyone! I wonder when XDA team tries to hack the Samsung Galaxy S20 smart LED cover? Because there's no customization at all... if I want to have incoming calls icons and custom icons!
I'm also interested in this topic, I see a lot of potential in modifying the configuration of this case that in my opinion is great, you could do very interesting things, but first of all it would be good to know if you could do something without being root...
Providing some information
I've had some free time ... I have researched a little about how that app and the shell works, and I discovered some interesting things, at least I see it interesting (I want to clarify first of all that I have no idea how to program for android or how the apk works by issues of permissions signatures etc ...) to begin with, something that has shocked me a lot is that there is a part of programming for the figure of the cactus and there is no code inside, that figure does not appear.Then I have also seen that all the figures or icons programmed are with color #ffffff (pure white) ... seeing the tone of white that emits and seeing the color that the app sends to emit makes me think that the leds of the housing are RGB, maybe it is crazy to think that, but I do not know ... makes me suspicious. Finally I have modified the icon of the coffee changing it of color simply and when trying to save the apk it gives me an error of only reading, I understand that that apk cannot be saved or something I am doing badly... I would like that the community or somebody that it was controlling more helped us