Wish I'm sorry but it's not enough

[IanMc]

I love B4a, it's a fine language and I can 'speak' it, it's great!

BUT

What do people see when we make an app?

They see pretty colours or lack therof, things that actually fit nicely on the screens or lack therof.

Sliders, twisty knobs, vertical sliders, meters, controls that we haven't even thought about yet.

That's what they see and that's how they judge an app.

Just as an example, when I make a drop-down list in B4a it looks ok on my phone but totally crap on my tablet! Sliders too!

To get great looking apps that work on all devices we B4a developers have to jump through hoops of fire.

I'm thinking for example, just use one big WebView and learn HTML5 but it's incredibly hard.

Basic for java is a great idea but I still don't know that many people who use Linux and I'm not of the Apple crowd, I'm sure it's great but I don't think you can use it for the iPhone can you?

Take a walk through any big office cubicle farm and count the Macs and the Linux machines and after a long walk your count may be zero or 1 or maybe 2 (and those are there for a specific reason) unless it's a video place or a web-dev place.

I'm wanting to make fantastic apps for the mobile platform.

Need amazing graphics.

B4a Controls are CLUNKY .... call them views if you like, they're still clunky.

I'm talking Commodore 64 clunky.

IanMc president for the society of kick-ass graphics.

 

[Erel]

B4a Controls are CLUNKY .... call them views if you like, they're still clunky.

There is no such thing as B4A controls. The views you see are the native Android views. You should contact Google (or your tablet manufacturer) if you think that they are clunky.

Basic for java is a great idea but I still don't know that many people who use Linux and I'm not of the Apple crowd, I'm sure it's great but I don't think you can use it for the iPhone can you?

The product name is B4J.
Not sure that I understand the point of this sentence. B4J creates desktop apps (Windows, Linux And Mac), servers and web apps.
It doesn't create iPhone apps. It also doesn't create Windows Phone apps. Though you can create a web app and use it from any browser you like.

No one is forced to use B4J. It is a free tool. If you like you can use it. There are now more than 3000 messages in the B4J questions so I'm happy to say that there are many developers who use it.

 

[LucaMs]

I only need a good graphics programmer who creates many beautiful custom view... for free, obviously

 

[nikolaus]

I fully support Erel. Just one thing to add:

If you limit your apps to Holo devices (Android 4+) which isn't much an issue anymore and set Holo as target apk you will see modern GUI elements and theme.

In fact only Gingerbread has a remarkable but constantly decreasing share of currently around 20% of all android devices. 80% run Android4/Holo. Every day around 1 million new devices are activated, all with Android4.

So setting API14 as minimum and target is really a considerable choice if a modern look and feel is important for your app. You exclude 20% of all users but might attract a lot more from those other 80%.

 

[Erel]

Note that you don't need to limit to Android 4+. If targetSdkVersion is set to 14 then the holo style will be used on Android 4+.

 

[nikolaus]

Erel, you are right. But then you will face chunky graphics and layout issues on older non-Holo devices - what the OP complained about.

 

[Erel]

You will get the native look of older devices. This is how apps look on these devices.

 

[dealsmonkey]

I have attached a couple of screen grabs from an app for a client. B4A apps can look just like any other android app. Never had any complaints about how my apps look !!

 

[thedesolatesoul]

I have attached a couple of screen grabs from an app for a client. B4A apps can look just like any other android app. Never had any complaints about how my apps look !!

Impressive.
And now I am going to bug you forever to do a tutorial and show off your skills.

 

[NJDude]

What you guys need to understand is that the "look" of an app doesn't depend on the device but on the developer's design, relying on "Holo" alone is not enough, since that theme might look different on different devices, for example, the holo on a Nexus device is the "official" one, but on an HTC it will look different, same thing on a Galaxy Tab, etc etc.

 

[LucaMs]

What you guys need to understand is that the "look" of an app doesn't depend on the device but on the developer's design, relying on "Holo" alone is not enough, since that theme might look different on different devices, for example, the holo on a Nexus device is the "official" one, but on an HTC it will look different, same thing on a Galaxy Tab, etc etc.

http://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/im-sorry-but-its-not-enough.41281/#post-247976

MS Windows is far from perfect, but it does not have all these complications

 

[Erel]

Note that you can use the UI Cloud to test your layout on some of the more popular devices.

The main point of this thread is incorrect. Basic4android doesn't have any special views. When you add a Button you are adding a native Android Button. The same is true for all other views. The views default look depends on the Android version and the device UI layer (stock Android, HTC Sense, Samsung TouchWiz, etc).

This thread is closed.