Building Adaptive iOS & Android Apps

Want to learn how to create adaptive iOS and Android apps that are optimized for both small and large devices? In this talk, we’ll explore the latest iOS and Android techniques we can apply to create universal apps that adapt their content for all device sizes.

1. Slides: bit.ly/adaptive-apps Building Adaptive iOS & Android Apps @BradBroulik | BradBroulik@gmail.com BradBroulik.blogspot.com iOS Code: github.com/BradBroulik/iOS-adaptive-demos Android Code: github.com/BradBroulik/android-adaptive-demos
2. 2 Adaptive in the real world…
3. 3 http://i.imgur.com/dbHxR5I.gif Adaptive Table
4. 4 The Adaptive Advantage Better UX User Efficiency Less Maintenance Future Friendly
5. 5 No device customer left behind OLD NOW NEXT? APP DEVELOPMENT
6. 6 Adaptive Building Blocks 1) Size classes or qualifiers 2) Adaptive layouts 3) Adaptive images
7. 7 iOS 100 Universal iOS Apps TIP: By default, iOS apps are configured to be universal. Developers must explicitly choose to restrict this behavior.
8. 8 Vertical Size Class (height) Horizontal Size Class (width) iPhone 4, 5, 6 Portrait Regular Compact iPhone 4, 5, 6 Landscape Compact Compact iPhone 6 Plus Portrait Regular Compact iPhone 6 Plus Landscape Compact Regular iPad Portrait/ Landscape Regular Regular # Size Classes NOTE: A size class coarsely categorizes available space horizontally and vertically SplitViewController compatible
9. 9 Size Classes Images via WWDC 2014 - View Controller Advancements in iOS 8 Split View Controller
10. 10 Trait Collections Set images based on trait collections Images via WWDC 2014 - Building Adaptive Apps with UIKit NOTE: A trait collection provides characteristics of a view controller which manages the views of your UI.
11. 11 # Responsive Layouts Compact Regular NOTE: Is it adaptive or responsive? Responsive is a single template that responds based on a size class (iOS). Adaptive is multiple templates - one for each size class (Android).
12. 12 CollectionView Master/Detail Layout Patterns Grids Mostly Fluid Auto Layout SplitViewController
13. 13 Master/Detail NOTE: The entire Adaptive iOS Demos app runs within a SplitViewController and responds to regular and compact sizes. Master Detail NOTE: SplitViewControllers are “split” by default in horizontally regular displays.
14. 14 SplitViewController Master Detail
15. 15 TIP: Collection Views automatically adapt their flow layout based on the available container size. Toggle for full-screen (refer to UIViewControllerExtensions.swift) Grids
16. 16 TIP: With Auto Layout you may configure your UI to be responsive for any size class. Mostly Fluid Multi-column when regular Single-column when compact
17. 17 TIP: Setup Auto Layout constraints by size class for a responsive and fluid user interface. View Xcode constraints by size class Manage constraints by size class Auto Layout
18. 18 Adaptive Images SVG 1x SVG 2x #
19. 19 Use Case: Image by size class TIP: Xcode allows us to set the corresponding size class for our UIImages iPad regular iPhone compact Any width Compact width
20. 20 Use Case: Art direction Art direction allows us to use smaller images that appear larger on smaller devices by cropping the subject of the photo.
21. 21 Use Case: Vector icons https://github.com/Createful/pdf-vector-icons TIP: The images are black to simplify template rendering. This allows you to set the image color at runtime or in Interface Builder. Set the Types to “Vectors” before dragging vector PDF into Xcode Set Render As to “Template Image” to render the image in any color NOTE: The SVGs must be sized @1x and Xcode will manage the generation of the various sized PNGs.
22. Adaptive iOS Content Dynamic Type Popovers Self-sizing Cells Adaptive 22
23. Popovers TIP: Use a UIPopoverPresentaionController to present your popover. It allows you to adjust the popover for the display environment. Horizontally regular environments display as popovers and horizontally compact environments adapt to your choice of UIModalPresentationStyle (FullScreen, FormSheet, etc). 23 Popover appears as “FullScreen” in compact width Popover appears as “Popover” in regular width NOTE: Alerts and action sheets are also adaptive objects. Popover appears as “FormSheet” in compact height (new in iOS 8.3)
24. 24 protocol UIAdaptivePresentationControllerDelegate: @availability(iOS, introduced=8.3) adaptivePresentationStyleForPresentationController(_: traitCollection:) Coming Soon? Adapt via TraitCollection. Previously the adaptive rule only applied to a compact-width size constraint. Maybe a new size class at WWDC 2015 - The latest iOS 8.3 API now allows Adaptive Presentation Controllers to adapt by TraitCollection.
25. 25 Self-sizing Cells NOTE: Self-sizing cells were introduced in iOS 8. Verify layouts are font size friendly and accessible
26. 26 1) tableView.estimatedRowHeight = 68.0 2) tableView.rowHeight = UITableViewAutomaticDimension 1) Allow row height to grow (FlexibleFontsTableViewController.swift) 2) Use text style font for accessibility (body, headline etc) 3) Set line length to zero to enable multi-lines 4) Test UI with different font sizes NOTE: Dynamic type was introduced in iOS 7 . Dynamic Type Dynamic Type Simulator
27. 27 TIP: You can adjust font attributes based on size constraints. Here, we increase the font-size on regular width layouts. Adaptive
28. 28 Adaptive iOS Testing Tools Actual Devices Emulators
29. 29 Resizable Emulators
30. 30 TIP: View different UIs simultaneously in Xcode’s new assistant preview editor. Preview Multiple Layouts https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/recipes/xcode_help-interface_builder/chapters/PreviewingLayouts.html
31. 31 Toggle Double-Length Pseudolanguage Preview Alternate Font Lengths TIP: In the assistant preview you can see how your UI adapts for double-length text.
32. 32 Android TIP: By default, Android apps are universal. Developers must explicitly choose to restrict this behavior. http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens-distribution.html
33. 33 # Size Qualifiers Configuration Qualifier Description Smallest Width sw Smallest possible width for a screen (preferred when supporting 3.2+) Available Width w Minimum available width for a screen Screen Size small normal large xlarge Resources by size (pre Android 3.2) Orientation land port Resources by orientation Density ldpi mdpi hdpi xhdpi xxhdpi xxxhdpi Resources by density http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/providing-resources.html#AlternativeResources
34. 34 TIP: The layout alias allow us to swap in alternate layouts for different size qualifiers. 2) Bind the “large” layout to our activity_mostly_fluid alias 1) When layout is sw600dp Size Qualifiers 3) Load the layout by alias name: http://developer.android.com/training/multiscreen/screensizes.html#TaskUseAliasFilters
35. 35 # Adaptive Layouts Small large NOTE: Is it adaptive or responsive? Responsive is a single template that responds based on a size class (iOS). Adaptive is multiple templates - one for each size class (Android).
36. 36 Layout Patterns Master/Detail GridView Mostly Fluid Fragments Size Qualifiers CardView
37. 37 TIP: Creating master/detail layouts is very quick in Android Studio. Select New, Activity, Master/Detail Flow. That’s it - you’ll have a master/detail layout template setup in a few seconds! https://developer.android.com/design/patterns/multi-pane-layouts.html Master/Detail
38. 38 TIP: GridView automatically adapts its flow layout based the the available container size. GridView https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/gridview.html TIP: CardViews are also adaptive friendly widgets.
39. 39 NOTE: This UI shows the multi-column template when the smallest-width is at least 600dp (sw600dp). Each template is a separate XML layout file. Mostly Fluid Multi-column template for sw600dp layout (activity_mostly_fluid_large.xml) Single-column template (activity_mostly_fluid.xml)
40. 40 Adaptive Images SVG 2x SVG 3x #
41. 41 Art direction allows us to use smaller images that appear larger on smaller devices by cropping the subject of the photo. Use Case: Art direction
42. 42 Use Case: Vector drawables CAUTION: Vector Drawables are only available in Android 5.0 (API level 21) and above. AppCompat support is not currently available. TIP: Victor converts SVGs to PNGs at build time and doesn’t pollute the source code. https://github.com/trello/victor Android Icon Generator works with SVGs
43. 43 Use Case: Tinted drawables CAUTION: Tinted Drawables are available only in Android 5.0 (API level 21) and above. AppCompat support is not currently available. https://developer.android.com/training/material/drawables.html#DrawableTint TIP: One drawable - many colors. You may tint any image type. DevBytes: Android Vector Graphics
44. 44 Adaptive Content Scaleable Fonts Tabs Action Bars
45. Action Bars 45 TIP: Action bar items adapt to large and small devices automatically when setup with an “ifRoom” attribute. http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/tablets-and-handsets.html#ActionBar Action bars automatically collapse if there isn’t enough room
46. Tabs 46 http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html#Tabs TIP: ActionBar tabs adapt to small and large screen widths automatically. They appear as a “stacked action bar” or alongside the action buttons depending on available space. CAUTION: The new Toolbar Widget in Android L is not adaptive out-of-the-box but it can be customized to support any size qualifier.
47. Scaleable Fonts Verify layouts are font size friendly and accessible Test UI with different font sizes http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html#screen-independence TIP: Use scale-independent pixels (sp) for font sizes. This unit of measure adjusts for both screen density and the users font-size setting. 47
48. 48 Adaptive Android Testing Tools Actual Devices Emulators
49. 49 Preview Multiple Layouts Android Studio’s preview mode allows you to view multiple devices at once
50. 50 Adaptive Project Strategies Adaptive Retrofitting Adaptive Apps Mobile-First Adaptive
51. Slides: bit.ly/adaptive-apps Thank You! @BradBroulik | BradBroulik@gmail.com BradBroulik.blogspot.com iOS Code: github.com/BradBroulik/iOS-adaptive-demos Android Code: github.com/BradBroulik/android-adaptive-demos