Android UI Design Tips

User Interface Design Tips July 2010

Why should I care about UI? Better UI Perceived quality + polish Better ratings Better app ranking More installs/purchases 2

Agenda – Android UI design tips 1.  Do’s and don’ts 2.  Design philosophy and considerations 3.  UI framework features you should definitely be using 4.  New UI design patterns 5.  Icons and guidelines 3

  DON’T simply port   DON’T create rigid, your UI from other absolute-positioned platforms layouts –  Users should feel right at home   DON’T use px units, with your app use dp (or sp for text) on their device –  Balance your brand   DON’T use small font and platform look sizes   DON’T overuse modal progress & confirmation dialogs 5

  DO create versions of   DO support D-pad & all resources for high trackball navigation density screens   DO properly manage   DO make large, the activity stack obvious tap targets (buttons, list items)   DO properly handle orientation changes   DO follow Android icon guidelines   DO use theme/style, dimension, color   DO use proper resources to reduce margins and padding redundancy 6

DO work with visual and interaction designer(s) 7

Design philosophy and considerations

Android design philosophy   Clear vs. “simple”   Content vs. chrome   Consistent yet engaging –  Elegant variation   Enhanced by the cloud –  Maintain user’s context across desktop and mobile 9

Principles of good interface design* 1.  Focus on the user 2.  Make the right things visible 3.  Show proper feedback 4.  Be predictable 5.  Be fault-tolerant * Some material borrowed from Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things 10

1. Focus on the user   Know your users –  Age, skill level, culture, disabilities, etc. –  What they want to do with your app –  What kinds of devices they’ll be using –  Where/when/how they’ll be using their devices   Design with a ‘user-first’ mentality –  Users are generally task-driven   Test on real users, early and often 11

2. Make the right things visible   The most common operations should be immediately visible and available   Secondary functionality can be reserved for the MENU button 12

3. Show proper feedback   Have at least 4 states (<selector>) for all interactive UI elements: default disabled focused pressed   Make sure the effects of an action are clear and visible   Show adequate yet unobtrusive progress indicators 13

4. Be predictable   Do what the user expects –  Properly interact with the activity stack –  Show information and actions users expects to see (requires testing or observation)   Use proper affordances –  If something is clickable, make sure it looks clickable! 14

If complex instructions are required, rethink your design. 15

5. Be fault tolerant   Constrain possible operations to only those that make sense –  Disable UI elements when appropriate   Limit the number of irreversible actions   Prefer ‘undo’ to confirmation dialogs –  In fact, use as few modal dialogs as possible. They’re obtrusive. 16

“If an error is possible, someone will make it.” – Donald Norman, author, The Design of Everyday Things 17

Design considerations   Physical screen size   Screen density   Portrait & landscape orientations   Primary UI interaction method –  Touch-screen –  D-pad/trackball   Soft & physical keyboard 18

Design considerations   Awareness about the ways in which devices can vary is very important   Read through the CDD to learn about possible device UI variations –  http://source.android.com/compatibility   Screen size & density breakdown –  http://developer.android.com/resources/ dashboard/screens.html 19

UI framework features you should definitely be using

Resource qualifiers   One .apk contains all resources   System chooses at runtime which resources to use 22

9-patch drawables – foo.9.png   Similar to CSS3 border-image   Border pixels indicate stretchable regions   Make both -mdpi and -hdpi versions! 23

Selector (state list) drawables foo.xml: <selector> <item android:drawable="@drawable/foo_disabled" android:state_enabled="false" ... /> <item android:drawable="@drawable/foo_pressed" android:state_pressed="true" ... /> <item android:drawable="@drawable/foo_focused" android:state_focused="true" ... /> <item android:drawable="@drawable/foo_default" /> </selector> 24

Selector (state list) drawables foo_default.png foo_disabled.png foo_focused.png foo_pressed.png foo_default.png foo_disabled.png foo_focused.png foo_pressed.png 25

Layer drawables – XML + PNGs + + Drawable.setColorFilter(  0xA4C639,  ...); foo_border.9.png foo_mask.9.png 26

Layer drawables – XML + PNGs = Rendered output (resizable w/ 9-patch) 27

New UI design patterns Borrowed from the Android UI design patterns talk at Google I/O 2010 http://code.google.com/events/io/2010/sessions/ android-ui-design-patterns.html 29

New UI design patterns   Dashboard   Action Bar   Quick Actions 30

Dashboard “What can I do with this app?” “What’s new?” 34

Dashboard – Recommendations   Focus on 3-6 most important app sections   Highlight what’s new   Be flavorful – it’s your first impression 35

Action Bar “How can I do <common action> quickly?” 36

Action Bar – Recommendations   Bring key, app-wide actions onscreen   Help to convey a sense of place   Use consistently within your app   Provide ‘home’ mechanism – logo or dedicated button   DON’T use for contextual actions 37

Quick Actions “What can I do with <this object>?” 38

New Android icon style Tactile • Rendered • Forward Facing • Top-lit Synecdoche • Diverse shapes, materials

Icon guidelines Guidelines and templates are available at: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ ui_guidelines/icon_design.html 41

Copyrights and Trademarks   Android, Google are registered trademarks of Google Inc.   All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. 43

Android UI Design Tips

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