James R. — Featured Android Contributor
When businesses move into the mobile arena, Android seems to be the afterthought in comparison to iOS. Recent market figures and growing Android brand identity are proving that Android is the top global contender. Businesses that already have an iOS presence are scrambling to access Android’s growing global market, rushing to get an app in the store. This often leads to some pretty cringe-inducing design decisions when developing an Android app.
Producing quality native Android apps based on existing iOS apps can take a lot of work, but life is easier with a few considerations:
No Ports.
I repeat, no ports, no clones, no replications, no “Just make it look and work like iOS”. Yes, time and money were spent on making a great looking, beautifully functional native iOS app, so why shouldn’t a native Android app get the same treatment? The headache it will cause you trying to force Android to look and behave the same as iOS is not ever, ever, worth it. Take the time and effort to examine the goals of your app and how to accomplish them using native Android patterns so that Android users will understand the flow the app and it will work correctly on the platform. Not to mention as a user of any technology, seeing a ported, non-native UI is generally a clear warning that I’m going to have a poor experience.
Follow the Pattern.
Thankfully, the engineers over at Android have been busy. Android UI patterns have continuously matured and kept up with the surge of users and growing demand for a beautiful and functional mobile experience. With clean holo theme looks and new standards like the Navigation Drawer and Action Bar, all of the building blocks are there to create an experience that is familiar and second nature to Android users. Not only will your app look good on the outside, but following native Android patterns will lead to clean and solid code on the inside too. This in turn will make development faster and more stable. Building a house is definitely quicker when you don’t have make your own bricks.
Think Relative.
The Android device market is extremely fragmented. There are lots and lots of makes and models of devices running multitudes of flavors of Android OS on a large variety of screen sizes and densities. http://opensignal.com/reports/fragmentation-2013/ This means that getting your app to look good on all devices is a task that cannot be ignored. Thankfully Android provides good documentation resources on how to tackle this task, along with support libraries to make new Android features available for older devices. Some quick tricks are using relative positioning, standard Android components, and thinking in terms of ratios in your design (rather than set dimensions).
Trust your users.
Android users have expectations of their mobile experiences. By using navigation patterns that they’re familiar with, you can trust that users will be able to use the application. Presenting an unfamiliar way to navigate through or interact with an app can sometimes cause confusion in users. Instead of reinventing the wheel, think of how to present the application’s goals using the Android patterns that users know and are comfortable using. If the user can use the app with little to no learning curve, they are much more able to quickly and easily accomplish their goal. This results in continued use and positive user experiences.
When thinking about adventuring into the Android market, having a native, easy to use app is key to providing users with the best experience. Steer clear of clones, and follow the patterns and guidelines from the Android Developer’s Guide. Spend the time and effort to make Android work for you, and trust your Android users to enjoy using your beautifully functional native Android app.
