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I'm switching for web development to Android development. I know some things about web usability and I see that UX is too often left behind on Android from my I experience with it.
As the interaction paradigms are pretty different from the web, I'm looking for resources about Android UI guidelines/best practices.
Google I/O 2010 - Android UI design patterns - In this session, the Android User Experience team will show the types of patterns you can use to build a great Android application
Google launched Android Design which provides design guidelines to achieve a consistent style across the platform. It includes information about:
General principles such as consistency ("If it looks the same, it should act the same") or use of unobtrusive notifications ("Only interrupt me if it's important").
Layout and visual style including icon design, typography (Roboto typeface), color scheme, themes, considerations for multiple screen sizes and densities.
Interaction patterns and specific widgets to support them. You can find design guidelines to resolve common problems (navigation, user notification, etc.) and widgets the platform offers (buttons, lists, text fields, etc.) with recommendations for their use. I have included below an image used to illustrate the design of notifications:
The following excerpt from those guidelines had me laughing though: When the previously viewed screen is also the hierarchical parent of the current screen, pressing the Back key will have the same result as pressing an Up button -- this is a common occurrence. However, unlike the Up button, which ensures the user remains within your app, the Back key can return the user to the Home screen, or even to a different application. (from the "Back vs. Up" section in the Patterns chapter, Navigation page)
http://androidpatterns.com is a nice resource as well, but beware of some inconsistencies and less accurate information, not to be used as a solo reference.
I just stumbled over a Android Design Site where design principles of Android 4.0 are shown, quite similar to Apple and Microsofts Guidelines. So for archive purposes this post.
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