Android Given New Design Guidelines, Addresses The Dreadful Menu Button Issue And More

April 10, 2012

Android Given New Design Guidelines, Addresses The Dreadful Menu Button Issue And More 4

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It's no big secret that sometimes developers can create apps that aren't as consistent with the intended Google design look and feel as we'd like. And so in moving forward, Matias Duarte, Director of Android User Experience, announced way back at CES that there were official Android design guidelines coming. The effort is to assist developers in creating applications that are more consistent with the look and feel of the flourishing OS. It was already a pretty comprehensive guide however, Google has incorporated a little more detail today, primarily on how devs should and should not use the settings menu. They're making attempts to lure devs away from the temptation of wanting to make everything a setting. To combat the effort, Google has provided a helpful and intuitive flowchart to assist with questions like “is it actually a user preference?”. Should the answer be no, then they're persuaded not to make it a setting. In addition, the search giant has added new guidelines for navigating around the OS, mainly in how one enters an app through a widget or via the notification menu. There's a ton of detail here altogether and it's a great read. If you're interested in learning more, head on over to Roman Nurik's Google + page, an Android dev advocate working at Google.

source: Roman Nurik G+

Joe Sirianni Author

Joe was born in New Jersey and spent most of his childhood moving around from state to state. He eventually made his way to Pennsylvania where he met his Portuguese beauty and made her his wife. He now has three great kids and full access to all of the Portuguese food he can eat. Joe's love for mobile technology began when he bought his first Palm Pilot, a Palm M130 and left it on top of his car, driving off, causing it to smash into a thousand pieces. Forced to buy a new device, he quickly discovered that specs were changing so rapidly he was buying a new device every six months just to keep up. Since then, he has constantly felt the need to have the latest and greatest. When the "smartphone" revolution began and integrating cell phones and PDA's was the norm, he quickly jumped to Windows Mobile for several years until the first Android device was launched, the T-Mobile G1. Joe began appreciating all of the free utilities Google provided and sold his soul (his precious data) to Google long before they got into the mobile OS business. So, there was no hesitation at all for him to jump on board and ride the Android train as an early adopter. And boy has it been a blast. Joe now works in the Engineering & Operations dept for a major mobile carrier where he remotely troubleshoots cell sites and loves being an Editor for TalkAndroid.