Android User Interface Design: Turning Ideas and Sketches into Beautifully Designed Apps - Softcover

Clifton, Ian G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0321886739 ISBN 13: 9780321886736

Publisher: Addison Wesley, 2013

Synopsis

Build Android Apps That Are Stunningly Attractive, Functional, and Intuitive In today's crowded Android marketplace, it's more important than ever to differentiate your apps. Great design is the best way to do that. Now, leading Android app design expert Ian G. Clifton shows you how to make your apps come alive and how to deliver apps that users will want, love, and buy! Reflecting the Android 4.2 SDK, this book serves both as a tutorial for the entire design and implementation process and as a handy reference you'll rely on for every Android development project. Clifton shows how to create effective designs, organize them into Android components, and move gracefully from idea, to wireframe, to comp, to finished app. You'll learn how to bring your own voice, personality, and style to your app designs; how to leverage advanced drawing techniques such as PorterDuff compositing; how to test designs on diverse Android devices; and much more. Android User Interface Design details each step of the design and development process and contains extensive downloadable sample code, including complete finished apps.* Learn how Android has evolved to support outstanding app design* Integrate app design with development, from idea through deployment* Understand views, the building blocks of Android user interfaces* Make the most of wireframes and prototypes* Build efficient layouts and integrate smooth animations * Make apps more useful by automatically updating ListViews* Combine views into custom components * Use image compositing and other advanced techniques* Work with the canvas and advanced drawing* Leverage Google Play and Amazon Appstore assets One step at a time, this guide helps you bridge the gap between Android developers and designers so you can work with colleagues to create world-class app designs...or do it yourself!

About this title

Review

“Android User Interface Design is a truly excellent book, written by one of the most experienced and knowledgeable Android developers. This is a very practical, highly readable guide and a great how-to resource for every Android developer. Each chapter reveals a clear and deep understanding of UI design. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to develop Android apps with superior UI.”

--Kyungil Kim, Software Engineer, Facebook

 

“I recommend this book for all Android developers who work alone and want to give a professional look to their apps. The content of the book is excellent and covers all aspects needed to understand how to design Android apps that stand out.”

--Gonzalo Benoffi, CEO, Coffee and Cookies, Android Development

 

“Design was never part of a developer’s job until mobile app development started; now it’s a must. This book gives a simple yet effective way to design your apps. It’s easy for beginners and informative for experienced developers as well. This is the best book I could ever refer to anyone who is in Android development. A one-time read of this book covers the experience you might gain from three years of learning development. I am amazed to see instructions on how to design starting from wireframes, which is something no other book has provided clear enough explanation of. (Some don’t even cover it.) I really love it. Thanks to Ian for this wonderful contribution to the Android developer community. Best, simple, and effective!”

--Chakradhar Gavirineni, Android Application Developer, Adeptpros IT Solutions Pvt Ltd.

 

“Ian’s book is an invaluable resource for everything there is to know about designing, creating layouts, and rendering Android applications. The ‘Common Task Reference’ appendix is an excellent addition that makes this book a must-have. Make sure to keep this one within arm’s reach of your desk.”

--Josh Schumacher, Software Engineer, HasOffers

 

“From the first few pages, this book provides a wealth of tips, tricks, and techniques for developing Android user interfaces. If you are grappling with all the various view types, then read this book--it really helps cement when and why you should include the various UI components to great effect (with worked examples!). Well worth a read by anyone looking for inspiration to improve their user interface into a great user experience.”

--Richard Sey, PassBx Developers

About the Author

Ian G. Clifton is the Director of User Experience and lead Android developer at A.R.O. in Seattle, where he develops Saga, an Android and iOS app that learns about you in order to let you live a better life with minimal interaction. He has worked with many designers in the course of his career and has developed several well-known Android apps, such as CNET News, CBS News, Survivor, Big Brother, and Rick Steves' Audio Europe.

Ian's love of technology, art, and user experience has led him along a variety of paths. Besides Android development, he has done platform, web, and desktop development. He served in the United States Air Force as a Satellite, Wideband, and Telemetry Systems Journeyman and has also created quite a bit of art with pencil, brush, and camera.

You can follow Ian G. Clifton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IanGClifton and see his thoughts about mobile development on his blog at http://blog.iangclifton.com. He also published a video series called "The Essentials of Android Application Development," available at http://my.safaribooksonline.com/video/programming/android/9780132996594.

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison Wesley
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0321886739
• ISBN 13: 9780321886736
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400