Migrating to Android TV

Design tips for Android TV

CodeMash 2015David Carver

Gplus: +David CarverTwitter: @kingargyle

https://github.com/NineWorlds/serenity-android

What constitutes Android TV

Internet Enabled Devices running Android 3.2 or Higher.

2nd Screen/Remote Control/Game Pad support

Ment to be used primarily with a TV.

Google TV Boxes

Android TV

Televisions

Other Android Based Devices

Why Design for TV???

I had an Itch that Needed Scratched

● Existing TV UIs were frustrating to use with a Remote● Wanted to learn Android Development and seemed like a good thing to do at the time.● Tired of TV Apps getting second class treatment.● Apps designed for TV don't need to SUCK!!

Android apps running on a TV sucked because Developers let

them suck!

Myth: A Tablet App will work fine on a TV!

The truth...Maybe

An app designed for Landscape mode on a tablet may work, but the user experience will probably

suffer.

Failure Points

● The app may run, but will probably provide a frustrating user experience.

● These apps are designed for Touch and typically do not take into account other ways to interact with the app.

● Using a Mouse is frustrating on the TV. If the user has to use the mouse pointer, it is a design failure.

● Need to design with the TV environment or Accessibility in mind.

Why not just Chromecast Everything?

● You need a Phone/Tablet/PC that supports it.● Not everybody likes having to use a

Phone/Tablet as a second screen device.● Not everybody has a supported Chromecast

device.● Some prefer using a Remote. It's familiar.● Limited to very basic playback or interaction.

Not designed for more complicated applications and interactions.

Guidelines?We don't need no stinking

guidelines!

Android TV / Fire TV / OUYA Design Guidelines

● Design for D-PAD not for Touch interface● Avoid the use of the Mouse or Touchpad.● Emphasize obvious items that can be selected

or interacted with.● Back Button should exit or take back to

previous screen.● Give visual indicators when more information

is provided off screen (i.e. scrolling required)● Compensate for Overscan on TVs

Visually Appealing

● Design with Visual Appeal– Apps are going to be in people's living rooms.

– TVs are ment to be visual displays

– You want the wow factor to help bring people back.

– However it needs to be simple and functional.

● Limit the number of clicks that a person has to get to anything on the screen.– The fewer the clicks the better.

Visually Appealing

● Prefer darker themes.– Lighter themes tend to be to bright and harder to

read

– TV Brightness varies greatly, and depends on room environments.

● Leanback or Holo themes and color schemes work well.

Android TV Leanback Library

Patterns and Anti Patterns

Zones

Design with Zones in mind.

Anti Pattern

D-Pad Navigation can't skip zones. The long scrolling list in the center has to be navigated through to get to the bottom zone.

You can make this Work

Limit the center content to Detail information or focusable items that don't scroll. This allows navigation through the zone quickly.

Google Recommends Vertical Zones

Create Quick Navigation Keys● Provide ways to Navigate quickly through long

lists.● Provide ways to get back to the top of a list

quickly.● To get to the bottom quickly.● Break Long Lists into separate screens.● Provide Filtering/Search to narrow scope of

items.● Devices may have Bluethooth enabled

keyboards or remotes with keybads connected.

Remember to Focus

Focus

Focus will be the most important and time consuming aspect of your app. Getting

Focus and the navigation around on screen focusable items is just as important if not more important than the look of the app.

Android TV Leanback support library provides this for free in many cases.

Avoid the Card Design with Embeddable Clickable Items.

Avoid the Embedded Clickable Item

If you do this, make sure a person can navigate to it! There is no touch screen, and if they have to resort to a mouse pointer you have failed in your design and user experience.

Prefer Android TV Leanback Cards

Horizontal Zone Pattern

Horizontal 2 Zone Pattern

Horizontal Two Zone, Horizontal Grid Scroll View

Horizontal Grid Views Android TV Leanback

Horizontal 3 Zone Pattern

Horizontal 3 Zone. Zone 2 and 3 are Side Scrolling

Avoid Content that Scrolls Vertically in Zone 2!

In general avoid vertical scrolling with horizontal layouts.

Horizontal Zone PatternWith Sliding Menu

Horizontal 3 Zone with Sliding Menu

Text and Icons

● Provide large readable fonts.● Screen space is at a premium. Even at

1920x1080p. – User is sitting about 10ft away so need to make

text and fonts legible from that distance.

– Set up your Google TV development device from that distance.

General UI Consideration● TVs are always at least layout-large and

layout-landscape-notouch resources.● Drawables are HDPI resolution or higher.● TV's are always Landscape.● Darker themes are easier to view than lighter.● TV Apps should be Full Screen Apps. The

app will be used on the largest most popular device in the house. Give it that special treatment.

● Keep your design consistent. Stick with either Vertical or Horizontal pattern throughout the app. Easier for user to learn. If changing the pattern make it a user choice to do so (i.e. multiple layouts)

Android TV Leanback Features

● Support Library with Android Lollipop designed for TVs.– BrowseFragment

– SearchFragment

– DetailsFragment

– PlaybackOverlayFragment

● Provides support back to API 17 Jelly Bean devices.

● Layouts are optimized for TVs by providing a 10% margin on all sides. TVs have overscan.

Android TV Leanback Features

● Contribute Recommendations to the Android TV Leanback Launcher via a Service.

● Provide in App Voice Search● Contribute Global Search Results via a

Content Provider● Model – View – Presenter

– ObjectAdapter

– Presenter

– RecycleView

– Fragments responsible for Click Events

AndroidManifest.xml

● RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED – if your app provides recommendations.

● RECORD_AUDIO – for in App Voice Search● TOUCHSCREEN – false – signifies that this

app is designed to run devices that don't require a touch screen.

Leanback Launcher

Necessary otherwise the app will not show up on the Android TV Launcher

Leanback Theme

● Activities that support Leanback must extend from the Theme.Leanback theme. This helps optimize the activity and layouts for the TV.

Leanback Recommendations

● Intent Service that is scheduled to provide Recommendations to the Leanback Launcher

● Launched after Boot is completed.● Uses Notification Manager ● Content Providers for background images for

cards

Voice Search

● Extend SearchFragment● Create a CardPresenter● Create a Layout for Search that includes the

custom search fragment.● Override onSearchRequested – the built in

Search provider is disabled in Android TV devices.

Dog Food your App

● Get an Android Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, or OUYA device and test your app there. – Screen resolutions will vary due to Overscan

● Use your own App. If you get frustrated, others will.

● Test both for Touch and for various controller inputs. Remote, Game Controller, Voice– Not all Remotes are created equal

– Not all Game Controllers are mapped the same.

Remember to Focus android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" android:descendantFocusability="afterDescendants" android:nextFocusDown="@+id/mainGalleryMenu" android:nextFocusUp="@+id/menu_button" android:nextFocusRight="@+id/mainGalleryMenu" android:nextFocusLeft="@+id/mainGalleryMenu">

● View.requestFocus()● View.requestFocusFromTouch()● View.requestFocus(int direction)● Remember to specifically set focus when hiding

and showing off screen views (i.e Sliding Menu Drawers)

KeyCode Events

● Android supports a wide variety of Media Key Codes– Play, Skip Forward, Pause, Stop, Skip Back

● Channel Up and Channel Down make good Page Up and Page Down alternatives for quick navigation.

● Remember many Android TVs do have keyboards in the remote. Provide keyboard short cuts for your app.

Context Menus● Use Context Menus to provide context

sensitive information.– Don't use the Action Bar especially with Grid or

Scrollable contentl. Prefer LeftNav pattern.

– Beware of the dreaded onItemLongClick bug with Remotes and Game Controllers. It'll fire both Click and Long Click events.

● Give option to map Menu key to context menu● Provide alternatives to bring up context menu

● Don't embed your context menus into clickable drop down menus in cards or list items!!!– Users need to reach for mouse or touch pad.

Automatic failure at this point.

What About Testing???

Come to the talk on FridayUnit Testing Android without Going Bald!

You can use existing Testing Tools to Test your Android TV applications.

Code Examples

How do you do it???

Android TV Leanback Resources

● https://github.com/googlesamples/androidtv-leanback – sample application that implements most Android TV Leanback functionality.

● https://developer.android.com/training/tv/start/index.html – Examples and guidelines for implementing Recommendations and In App Search.

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72K1VhjoL98 – DevBytes Using Android TV Leanback