Hands-On Android UI Development

Book excerpt: Master the art of creating impressive and reactive UIs for mobile applications on the latest version of Android Oreo. About This Book A comprehensive guide to designing and developing highly interactive user interfaces for your app. Design responsive and agile applications targeting multiple Android devices (up to Android Oreo) using Android Studio 3.0 Write reactive user interfaces with minimal effort by leveraging the latest Android technologies, such as Architecture components and the Lifecycle API Avoid common design problems and pitfalls with the help of shared UI design patterns and best practices. Who This Book Is For This book is for novice Android and Java developers who have a basic knowledge of Android development and want to start developing stunning user interfaces. What You Will Learn Create effective and efficient user interfaces that allow users to carry out tasks smoothly Understand the fundamentals of Android UI design, and take a look at the basic layouts, Inputs, and controls Learn about various UI components provided by Android, which include structured layout objects and UI controls that allow you to build the graphical user interface for your app Explore various styles and themes that allow you to customize the look and feel of your app Leverage the animation and graphics APIs to improve user experience and draw custom 2D graphics In Detail A great user interface (UI) can spell the difference between success and failure for any new application. This book will show you not just how to code great UIs, but how to design them as well. It will take novice Android developers on a journey, showing them how to leverage the Android platform to produce stunning Android applications. Begin with the basics of creating Android applications and then move on to topics such as screen and layout design. Next, learn about techniques that will help improve performance for your application. Also, explore how to create reactive applications that are fast, animated, and guide the user toward their goals with minimal distraction. Understand Android architecture components and learn how to build your application to automatically respond to changes made by the user. Great platforms are not always enough, so this book also focuses on creating custom components, layout managers, and 2D graphics. Also, explore many tips and best practices to ease your UI development process. By the end, you'll be able to design and build not only amazing UIs, but also systems that provide the best possible user experience. Style and approach This book takes an easy tutorial approach to help you learn how to create consistent and efficient user interfaces for your apps. The book first takes you through the basics of user interfaces such as basic layouts, inputs, and controls, and also covers animations and graphics. By the end of the book, you will have learned best practices and will be able to develop inspired interfaces that look good and also work subtly in the background.