Google Launches Style Guide For Android Developers 128
mspohr writes "On Thursday, Google launched Android Design, a website created specifically to help aid developers in the creation of applications for ICS. The site offers a comprehensive visual to third-party application developers, giving suggestions on everything from how to implement different visual elements to overall back-end patterns for the OS itself. In theory, it will help developers better understand just how the Android team thinks about layout and implementation, while simultaneously giving suggestions to interaction designers on how to maintain visual integrity. Basically, it will help both first-time developers and Android veterans make apps look less crappy. 'We haven't really had a style guide,' Duarte says. '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.'"
Google admitting problem and trying to fix it (Score:3, Insightful)
I think this is also part of a longer plan for Android's issues. I think Google is finally starting to see that the supposed freedom they gave to manufacturers and telcos backfired and resulted in fragmented hardware and non-standard design within apps and phones. I believe they will soon announce some similar guidelines and policy changes to try to get Android more together. Especially now that WP7 market share is starting to climb as a result of Nokia's new phones.
Herding cats (Score:5, Insightful)
1 developer, 1 way of doing things.
2 developers, 2 days of doing things.
etc.
Too familiar with this these days as I code replacements for crappy apps. What I'd really like to know is if people actually think about their interfaces, rather than patching them together as they go along.
Re:Google admitting problem and trying to fix it (Score:4, Insightful)
Couldn't agree with you more. In addition to this, Google's recent move mandating [engadget.com] the 'Holo' theme on all Android Market accessing devices shipping Android 4.x, is another step in the right direction.
Google's executive chairman knows exactly what's going on, and will agree that some level of standardization would be beneficial to the Android ecosystem.
Re:Google admitting problem and trying to fix it (Score:5, Insightful)
Fragmentation refers to modifications of product lines such that they are no longer compatible, interoperable, or familiar. You are merely referring to thematic differentiation across the product line. Android remains compatible from a developer standpoint, interoperable as they all run the same fundamental OS, and as such they are also familiar to most users of an Android product.
People often use words that cross gray areas to draw emphasis to their point but in this case they are wrong. Android lacks complete UI consistency across all of its products, but that's called differentiation. All of the fundamental elements of the Android experience are still consistent.
Re:Google admitting problem and trying to fix it (Score:5, Insightful)
When every Android device is now going to look alike, wouldn't the general customer base be a little more likely to buy an Android device from the company that *makes* Android?
Holo has to be installed. It doesn't have to be the default.
Re:Google admitting problem and trying to fix it (Score:5, Insightful)
It's good to see Google admit that large amount of Android apps aren't really standardly designed and suffer from huge fragmentation issues, both with hardware and design. It's just weird to see Google CEO saying there isn't such issue [slashdot.org] while at the same time the company is launching design guide to help fix some of the issues.
Nice to see you read the actual article. What Schmidt actually said
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Tuesday took issue with the idea that the Android mobile operating system is fragmented, arguing that there is instead a "differentiation" between devices.
"Differentiation is positive, fragmentation is negative,"
Now a lot of idiots beleive that fragmentation is the differences between UI's. This is false as UI's make no difference to the way applications behave.
The Differentiation that Schmidt talked about is things like differing screen sizes which are actually things that phone buyers want, yet make things slightly more difficult for developers. Google have recognised this for years, the benefits of choice to the consumer are greater then the pitfalls to developers.
I think this is also part of a longer plan for Android's issues. I think Google is finally starting to see that the supposed freedom they gave to manufacturers and telcos backfired and resulted in fragmented hardware and non-standard design within apps and phones. I believe they will soon announce some similar guidelines and policy changes to try to get Android more together.
There is no "supposed" freedom. There is freedom and it was given to all, not just manufacturers and telcos.
This freedom has resulted in a thriving phone market and development community and it's not going anywhere. Guidelines are not edicts set in stone, nor will the inclusion of the "Holo" theme change custom launchers.
Especially now that WP7 market share is starting to climb as a result of Nokia's new phones.
OK, what are you smoking and why aren't you sharing.
Despite a marketing blitz that rivals Apple's, WP7 is going nowhere. In fact MS's share keeps dropping as the laggards on WinMo realise that WP7 isn't going to work and switch to Android.
Too little too late... (Score:3, Insightful)
The document should have been on the street before it was released.
Google like Microsoft has no style or taste. They are a bunch of really smart programmers but damn few of them know diddly shit about U/I interfaces much less standards.
Android will never have the polish that iOS has and that may be a hard fact for the Android loyalists, but it is a fact never the less.
Every piece of Apple software has a beautifully designed U/I and that is because Steve Jobs had taste and style and that will carry on because he trained his designers to look at history to look at beautiful manuscripts and books.
A long way to go yet (Score:5, Insightful)
I appreciate that the Google pages are a draft and work in progress, but they're a far cry from the level of detail provided by IBM's CUA (which got right down to function key actions), Microsoft's Windows Style Guide (which tells you how you should USE the widgets built into the system, not how to MANUALLY HIGHLIGHT touchpads like Google's guide does), or Apple's obviously detailed specifications.
On the other hand, IBM spent a LONG time writing and editing the CUA style guide before it was published, and Microsoft and Apple also have had a few iterations and updates under their belt.
So, great idea, keep at it, but it's not there yet. :)
I know what you're trying to say, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
...speaking as someone who has formally studied design, it's not even close to sufficient to just train designers "to look at history to look at beautiful manuscripts and books" [argh, the run-ons...]. You need to understand design theory, your target audience, and have a bit of a magic touch (one that I personally, sadly, seem to lack) for figuring out where things go. Just looking at a few pictures isn't going to help. They provide inspiration and you can draw commonalities from them, but really you have to practice design and learn from your mistakes if you want to be any good at it -- like just about anything else.
As for iOS vs Android, I agree that iOS has more polish but I think you're mistaken about it carrying on. I suspect now that Steve Jobs is not micromanaging every design decision, we'll see slippage in Apple's design output. The key difference between Apple and Android is that Apple had every design aspect of its products micromanaged by ONE MAN for years. If you have everything designed by one talented designer or a team of designers who have worked together for years, you get something much more consistent and beautiful than when the result is a "good enough" effort by the designer or design team of the year. I think it's a natural consequence of the fact that a group of people can't really "share" any design goal since they all have slightly different mental images of what the end result should be (unless they have worked together for years and have learned to understand what the effect of each member of their team is on the final result). So unless Apple has some new superstar designer who can crack the whip of conformity and beat down dissenters across its product line going forward, I expect to see it slipping in the future.
Re:Google admitting problem and trying to fix it (Score:5, Insightful)
Look SharkLaser/Bonch. I've been a reader/poster here for about 10 years. Over the years there have been a quite a few posters like you who just can't stop preaching your message. You think you have some sort of insight which in your oppinion just have to be correct, in your case you have this idea that monoculture is gods gift for operating systems/hardware and every stumble that comes with a more open aproach unclimbable, we got it. But most of us don't agree, monoculture have flaws too you know, where the most apparent is that one size does not fit all.
I for example fly RC helicopters and I configure them over bluetooth, but I can't use an i* device because Apples BT stack don't implement SPP (Serial port profile). There is nothing stoping Apple from implementing it, but they wan't do it for some reason I can't believe is technical. I use a netbook for this, but I will get an Android tablet in the future.
At the moment you are making /. pretty much unbearable to read. Same old in every single thread. Everybody here have gotten your message by now. It's time for you to move on, you're just spreading FUD by now. Why don't you start a blog or something. As I've been on /. for some time I know from experience you will eventaully get tired and stop this bullshit, do yourself and others a favour and find some other channel to preach your message. Having multiple accounts on /. to post same old ramblings is just silly.
For the record I'm an owner of both iPhone and iPad.
Re:Style? (Score:4, Insightful)