Android app developers face big changes in writing apps for Android. Google android blog provides valuable resources for Android app developers. Android Design is where all Android app developers gather together and according to Christian Robertson, the Android Design is more like “the place to learn about principles, building blocks, and patterns for creating world-class Android user interfaces. Whether you’re a UI professional or a developer playing that role, these docs show you how to make good design decisions, big and small.” Robertson is the brain behind font family Roboto that was used for Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). The good thing about this new site is that even Ice Cream Sandwich users will benefit a lot from the all the myriad of information that can be found in the website.
Google created Android Design to help Android developers in their creation of apps for the ICS. Aside from new writing guidelines, the new website also offers a complete visual to third party Android app developers. It also provide a number of practical suggestions on everything related to application development from the implementation of various visual elements to general Android OS back end patterns. Theoretically, this aims to aid Android developers on how to understand better the way Android team thinks about app implementation and layout while giving vital suggestions at the same time. Not only first time developers will benefits from this but it will also help even the most experienced Android app developers in creating new apps that will not look like a cheap application.
Matias Duarte, the head of user experience at Android said that Google really had no style guide. “We haven’t really given you a lot of guidance on how to migrate your application from a phone, perhaps, to a tablet. We’ve done so only by example,” Duarte said. This particular aspect has always been the major complaint of Android developers especially whenever a new OS version is released. They often end up reverse engineering the code using the new OS version and decode it from the previous version so they can assess how they will be able to bring their applications to the new OS software environment.
The new app writing guidelines for Android will be a stepping stone for most developers to come up with better and more practical applications. In the end, Android users will be the main beneficiary of these changes which in turn will further strengthen the market position of Android.
