Rajab Davudov

Android UI Design: Layouts

What is a Layout ?

• A type of resource that defines what is drawn on the screen.

• A type of View class whose primary purpose is to organize other controls.

Why is a Layout ?

• More than 300 devices with different

– Screen sizes and dimensions– Screen densities– Android versions– OEM skins– Control interfaces

Android Layouts

• LinearLayout• RelativeLayout• TableLayout• FrameLayout• AbsoluteLayout• …

Linear Layout

In a linear layout, like the name suggests, all the elements are displayed in a linear fashion(below is an example of the linear layouts), either Horizontally or Vertically and this behavior is set in android:orientation which is an attribute of the node LinearLayout.

<LinearLayout android:orientation="vertical"> .... </LinearLayout>OR<LinearLayout android:orientation=“horizontal"> .... </LinearLayout>

Linear Layout

Relative Layout

In a relative layout every element arranges itself relative to other elements or a parent element.

As an example, lets consider the layout defined below. The “Cancel” button is placed relatively, to the right of the “Login” button parallel. Here is the code snippet that achieves the mentioned alignment (Right of Login button parallel)

Relative Layout

Table Layout

Table layouts in Android works in the same way HTML table layouts work. You can divide your layouts into rows and columns. Its very easy to understand. The image below should give you an idea

Table Layout

Absolute Layout

Non-professional and not recommended layout !!!

Custom Layout Resource

• res/– layout/– layout-land/– layout-xlarge-v11/– layout-xlarge-land-v11/

Density Independent Pixels

• dp or dip

Ready, Steady, Code !!!

Rajab Davudov

Senior Developer at Azerfonradjab@gmail.com

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