News - Android Design - how to design exceptional Android apps

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Google launches new Android Design website to keep Android 4.0 consistent.

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Read more.

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what do our readers think to Google's new approach to application design?

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I had a look at that site - at least the user-friendly topics (all of them other than the link labelled "Developers") and most of what's there strikes me as well presented, and pretty much common sense. Plus I learned things - e.g. didn't know that those little popup messages were called "Toasts", thought everyone called them "tooltips" (a la Windows).

If Google are finally insisting on consistency between apps then they'll get a big :thumbsup: from me - as has oft been remarked here (and elsewhere) that's the #1 advantage of iOS, not only are the apps driven in the same way, but a lot of the actions required are common sense.

Only drawback I can see at the moment is that you might get some pedants writing back to the developers pointing out where their app breaks these guidelines - which could get annoying very quickly. That said, if they've produced an app that DOES break these guidelines then maybe they should be pestered into getting into line?

I figure that developers who - for whatever reason - don't want to follow these guidelines can always push their apps via one, or more, of the 3rd party alternatives to Google Market Place.

First thought (without looking at the site, admittedly): it depends on how long these remain "guidelines", as oppose to being requirements if you want your app on the market. The whole point of Android is that it's meant to be open, and it'd be a dark day if Google started refusing apps because they didn't meet some relatively arbitrary design "guidelines"...

As I say though, that's a gut reaction without looking at the site. I'll definitely be spending some time over the next few days catching up on it and seeing what's what...

Make them mandatory, I'm tired of UI inconsistencies in Android.