1page.title=Pure Android 2page.image=images/cards/design-pure-android_2x.png 3@jd:body 4 5<p>Most developers want to distribute their apps on multiple platforms. As you plan your app for 6Android, keep in mind that different platforms play by different rules and conventions. Design 7decisions that make perfect sense on one platform will look and feel misplaced in the context of a 8different platform. While a "design once, ship anywhere" approach might save you time up-front, you 9run the very real risk of creating inconsistent apps that alienate users. Consider the following 10guidelines to avoid the most common traps and pitfalls.</p> 11 12<div class="vspace size-1"> </div> 13 14<div class="cols"> 15 <div class="col-5"> 16 17<h4>Don't mimic UI elements from other platforms</h4> 18<p>Platforms typically provide a carefully designed set of UI elements that are themed in a very 19distinctive fashion. For example, some platforms advocate rounded corners for their buttons, others 20use gradients in their title bars. In some cases, elements may have the same purpose, but are 21designed to work a bit differently.</p> 22<p>As you build your app for Android, don't carry over themed UI elements from other platforms and 23don't mimic their specific behaviors. Review the 24<a href="{@docRoot}design/building-blocks/index.html">Building Blocks</a> 25section in this styleguide to learn about Android's most important UI elements 26and the way they look in the system default themes. Also examine Android's platform apps to get a 27sense of how elements are applied in the context of an app. If you want to customize the theme of UI 28elements, customize carefully according to your specific branding - and not according to the 29conventions of a different platform.</p> 30 31 </div> 32 <div class="col-8"> 33 34 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/migrating_ui_elements.png"> 35 <div class="figure-caption"> 36 Sampling of UI elements from Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. 37 </div> 38 39 </div> 40</div> 41 42<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 43 44<div class="cols"> 45 <div class="col-5"> 46 47<h4>Don't carry over platform-specific icons</h4> 48<p>Platforms typically provide sets of icons for common functionality, such as sharing, creating a new 49document or deleting.</p> 50<p>As you are migrating your app to Android, please swap out platform-specific icons with their Android 51counterparts.</p> 52<p>You can find a wide variety of icons for use in your app on the 53<a href="{@docRoot}design/downloads/index.html">Downloads</a> page.</p> 54 55 </div> 56 <div class="col-8"> 57 58 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/migrating_icons.png"> 59 <div class="figure-caption"> 60 Sampling of icons from Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. 61 </div> 62 63 </div> 64</div> 65 66<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 67 68<div class="cols"> 69 <div class="col-5"> 70 71<h4>Don't use bottom tab bars</h4> 72<p>Other platforms use the bottom tab bar to switch between the app's views. Per platform convention, 73Android's tabs for view control are shown in action bars at the top of the screen instead. In 74addition, Android apps may use a bottom bar to display actions on a split action bar.</p> 75<p>You should follow this guideline to create a consistent experience with other apps on the Android 76platform and to avoid confusion between actions and view switching on Android.</p> 77<p>For more information on how to properly use action bars for view control, see 78<a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/actionbar.html">Action Bars</a>.</p> 79 80 </div> 81 <div class="col-8"> 82 83 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/migrating_ios_dialers.png"> 84 <div class="figure-caption"> 85 Android dialer with tabs in an action bar vs. bottom tabs in iOS. 86 </div> 87 88 </div> 89</div> 90 91<div class="cols"> 92 <div class="col-5"> 93 94<h4>Don't hardcode links to other apps</h4> 95<p>In some cases you might want your app to take advantage of another app's feature set. For 96example, you may want to share the content that your app created via a social network or messaging 97app, or view the content of a weblink in a browser. Don't use hard-coded, explicit links to 98particular apps to achieve this. Instead, use Android's intent API to launch an activity chooser 99which lists all applications that are set up to handle the particular request. This lets the user 100complete the task with their preferred app. For sharing in particular, consider using the <em>Share 101Action Provider</em> in your action bar to provide faster access to the user's most recently used 102sharing target.</p> 103 104 </div> 105 <div class="col-8"> 106 107 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/migrating_intents.png"> 108 <div class="figure-caption"> 109 Link to other apps with the activity chooser or use the <em>Share Action Provider</em> in the 110 action bar. 111 </div> 112 113 </div> 114</div> 115 116<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 117 118<div class="cols"> 119 <div class="col-5"> 120 121<h4>Don't use labeled back buttons on action bars</h4> 122<p>Other platforms use an explicit back button with label to allow the user to navigate up the 123application's hierarchy. Instead, Android uses the main action bar's app icon for hierarchical 124navigation and the navigation bar's back button for temporal navigation. For more information, 125please review the <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/navigation.html">Navigation</a> pattern.</p> 126<p>Follow this guideline to provide a consistent navigation experience across the platform.</p> 127 128 </div> 129 <div class="col-8"> 130 131 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/migrating_ios_galleries.png"> 132 <div class="figure-caption"> 133 Android action bar with up caret vs. iOS labeled "Back" button. 134 </div> 135 136 </div> 137</div> 138 139<div class="cols"> 140 <div class="col-5"> 141 142<h4>Don't use right-pointing carets on line items</h4> 143<p>A common pattern on other platforms is the display of right-pointing carets on line items that allow 144the user to drill deeper into additional content.</p> 145<p>Android does not use such indicators on drill-down line items. Avoid them to stay consistent with 146the platform and in order to not have the user guess as to what the meaning of those carets may be.</p> 147 148 </div> 149 <div class="col-8"> 150 151 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/migrating_ios_settings.png"> 152 <div class="figure-caption"> 153 Android settings without right-pointing carets in line items vs. iOS settings. 154 </div> 155 156 </div> 157</div> 158 159<h2 id="device-independence">Device Independence</h2> 160 161<p>Remember that your app will run on a wide variety of different screen sizes. Create visual assets 162for different screen sizes and densities and make use of concepts such as multi-pane layouts to 163appropriately scale your UI on different device form factors.</p> 164<p>For more information, read <a href="{@docRoot}design/style/devices-displays.html">Devices and Displays</a> as 165well as <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/multi-pane-layouts.html">Multi-pane Layouts</a> in this design guide.</p> 166