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martythemaniak said Android UI development is similar to doing HTML + CSS, he didn't say it's the same. The Android UI layouts are significantly less broken tha

martythemaniak said Android UI development is similar to doing HTML + CSS, he didn't say it's the same. The Android UI layouts are significantly less broken than CSS, even before you include the clusterfuck that is varying browsers support for CSS. If you've ever tried doing a UI Layout for Android, you'll find it's actually pretty damn easy to support multiple resolutions. If you're actually interested, here's the canonical resource on supporting different screen in Android: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html#range http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support... BTW dealing with multiple resolutions is a problem that's rapidly heading to the Apple ecosystem. The iPad is 1024 × 768, the current iPhone is 320×480, the next iphone is rumored to be some multiple of the current iPhone resolution, etc.

Groxx 16y ago
Thanks for the link, hadn't seen anything for Android yet. But it does nothing to alleviate the problem. Re-post of my other comment: You still need to make a ton of resolution-specific images if you want the sharpest possible image, which - again - matters for perceived value. And you're royally screwed if you do pixel-art instead of something easily resized. The issue here isn't for all applications, it's for highly styled applications, which are kicking ass lately and are important for perceived value of a device. Resolution independence and fluid-ish layouts do indeed make basic UI extremely easy. But basic UI evidently can't compete equally with a more stylized UI, as the iPhone shows pretty clearly.
- enjo 16y ago
  But basic UI evidently can't compete equally with a more stylized UI, as the iPhone shows pretty clearly Support that. I can name several apps on my iPhone that are hardly high-style, yet useful and well received (Quickoffice, iFitness, Yelp!... just to name 3 on my home screen). Larger than this. This is something that vector graphics solves extremely well. You want really nice images at multiple resolutions? Illustrator is your friend.
  - theBobMcCormick 16y ago
    Highly styled apps have taken a while to arrive on Android, but they definitely are arriving. The new Twitter app for Android, for example, is might nice looking. (here's an article about it: http://blog.twitter.com/2010/04/twitter-for-android-robots-like-to.html http://blog.twitter.com/2010/04/twitter-for-android-robots-l... , and another here: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/twitter-for-android-closer-look-at.html http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/twitter-for-a.... One thing not readily apparent from the screenshots is the way the whole app is animated. The little bird and cloud backgrounds are animated and move on almost every screen.
  - Groxx 16y ago
    Top 20 selling apps in the Apple store[1]. A quick perusal will convince most people. I didn't check all of them, but I saw ONE which used standard display components at all in the screenshots (the guitar one), and it only does so for setting preferences. Think it's coincidence? [1] : http://www.macrumors.com/c.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2FWebObjects%2FMZStore.woa%2Fwa%2FviewCustomPage%3Fname%3Dpage1BillionApps%26v0%3DWWW-NAUS-ITSBILLION-TOP20APPS&t=1275380979 http://www.macrumors.com/c.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.c... edit: and again. Pixel art. 3D / vector art isn't the only kind, you know. Just look at any favicon, for example.
- theBobMcCormick 16y ago
  This is hardly a problem that's unique to Android. Like I mentioned before, the i* platform already has 2 resolutions to support and almost certainly will have a 3rd shortly. If the i* platform is offering a better long term solution than what the Android API's currently offer, I'd love to see a link to more information about it. The whole "fragmentation" thing, at least in terms of API's and developer issues, is more of a talking point than a reality.
  - blasdel 16y ago
    If you consider rotation, the iPhone currently has 4 resolutions and will soon have 6. There's also the expanded green status bar during calls, a red one during voice recording, and another color for background VoIP apps in 4.0 -- so it'll really be 12 resolutions. The real difference is that with iPOS, Apple doesn't expect developers to automatically handle new device resolutions, and no developer expects to not be informed of new resolutions. Android developers are expected to use fluid layouts, and don't expect to be able to keep up with the release of new and customized devices by a bevy of semi-incompetent manufacturers.

Groxx 16y ago

Thanks for the link, hadn't seen anything for Android yet. But it does nothing to alleviate the problem. Re-post of my other comment: You still need to make a ton of resolution-specific images if you want the sharpest possible image, which - again - matters for perceived value. And you're royally screwed if you do pixel-art instead of something easily resized. The issue here isn't for all applications, it's for highly styled applications, which are kicking ass lately and are important for perceived value of a device. Resolution independence and fluid-ish layouts do indeed make basic UI extremely easy. But basic UI evidently can't compete equally with a more stylized UI, as the iPhone shows pretty clearly.

enjo 16y ago
But basic UI evidently can't compete equally with a more stylized UI, as the iPhone shows pretty clearly Support that. I can name several apps on my iPhone that are hardly high-style, yet useful and well received (Quickoffice, iFitness, Yelp!... just to name 3 on my home screen). Larger than this. This is something that vector graphics solves extremely well. You want really nice images at multiple resolutions? Illustrator is your friend.
- theBobMcCormick 16y ago
  Highly styled apps have taken a while to arrive on Android, but they definitely are arriving. The new Twitter app for Android, for example, is might nice looking. (here's an article about it: http://blog.twitter.com/2010/04/twitter-for-android-robots-like-to.html http://blog.twitter.com/2010/04/twitter-for-android-robots-l... , and another here: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/twitter-for-android-closer-look-at.html http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/twitter-for-a.... One thing not readily apparent from the screenshots is the way the whole app is animated. The little bird and cloud backgrounds are animated and move on almost every screen.
- Groxx 16y ago
  Top 20 selling apps in the Apple store[1]. A quick perusal will convince most people. I didn't check all of them, but I saw ONE which used standard display components at all in the screenshots (the guitar one), and it only does so for setting preferences. Think it's coincidence? [1] : http://www.macrumors.com/c.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2FWebObjects%2FMZStore.woa%2Fwa%2FviewCustomPage%3Fname%3Dpage1BillionApps%26v0%3DWWW-NAUS-ITSBILLION-TOP20APPS&t=1275380979 http://www.macrumors.com/c.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.c... edit: and again. Pixel art. 3D / vector art isn't the only kind, you know. Just look at any favicon, for example.
theBobMcCormick 16y ago
This is hardly a problem that's unique to Android. Like I mentioned before, the i* platform already has 2 resolutions to support and almost certainly will have a 3rd shortly. If the i* platform is offering a better long term solution than what the Android API's currently offer, I'd love to see a link to more information about it. The whole "fragmentation" thing, at least in terms of API's and developer issues, is more of a talking point than a reality.
- blasdel 16y ago
  If you consider rotation, the iPhone currently has 4 resolutions and will soon have 6. There's also the expanded green status bar during calls, a red one during voice recording, and another color for background VoIP apps in 4.0 -- so it'll really be 12 resolutions. The real difference is that with iPOS, Apple doesn't expect developers to automatically handle new device resolutions, and no developer expects to not be informed of new resolutions. Android developers are expected to use fluid layouts, and don't expect to be able to keep up with the release of new and customized devices by a bevy of semi-incompetent manufacturers.