What resolutions to design for.

[barx]

OK, I'm starting to get the hang of layouts (code and designer). My question is, which way is best practice.

When designing an app layout, do you pro's code it or use the layout designer? If you use designer, what resolutions do you do layouts for? Obviously there are quite a few out there.

Thought I'd got a particular layout nailled then I looked at it on a xperia x10 mini pro and it looked pretty bad, And elements were off the bottom of the screen and the screen wouldn't scroll. I take it a standard activity screen does not scroll and I should add a panel or scrollview (not sure which).

Apologies for all the questions and I asure you I am reading through the tutorials and beginners guide. currently on page 87 on the guide lol.

 

[Erel]

See this wiki for some of the common resolutions: http://www.b4x.com/android/wiki/index.php/Designer

I recommend you to start with the following two variants for portrait orientation:
- 320x480 scale=1.0 -> Phone devices
- 480x800 scale=1.0 -> Tablet devices. This is a custom variant.

Make sure to choose scale=1.0 and not scale=1.5.
When your application is almost done you can create additional variants as needed.

 

[barx]

lol, the link points back to this thread. I'll search the wiki a bit later and see what I can find.

I've already designed for the 2 res's you note.

I have a avd setup as 320 x 480

My device (HTC Desire Z) is 480 x 800

Everything is good at these 2, just looks shocking on the smaller screen though after looking through the 'market', not alot seem to cater for this screen res anyway. So, like you say, something to add later.

As for the verticle scroll issue. Is it worth putting a scroll view on anything likely to 'scroll' on smaller screen?

 

[Erel]

This is the correct link: Designer - Basic4android Wiki
The scale value is the most important part in the layout configuration.

The HTC Desire layout is 480x800 scale = 1.5. This is similar to 320x480 scale=1.0.

 

[barx]

This is the correct link: Designer - Basic4android Wiki
...

Once again, thanks you Erel. The amount of documentation there is to wade through for B4A is vast (which is a good thing as there are loads of features and we wouldn't know how to use them with documenting). But posts like this help filter bits out. Seems you know it inside out .

 

[barx]

btw on to page 108 of the guide now, lol. It's slow progress, but I read other bits in between too and have the wife and 2 kids to contend with

Enjoying the read, Klaus has made a good job of it. :sign0142:

 

[klaus]

Thank you for your comment.
Be patient, tomorrow there will be more .

Best regards.