Public-oriented mobile technology: gesture encoding in Android (1)

Public-oriented mobile technology: gesture encoding in Android (1)

Convert buttons in the Android mobile app to slide gestures

Mobile users are usually less concentrated, busy, and easily subject to human engineering constraints, so you need to build your own mobile app UI accordingly. Andrew Glover discusses the key factors that differentiate mobile apps from Web apps and then guides you through creating a mobile app UI that uses slide gestures instead of buttons for navigation.

Building a mobile application is the same as building a Web application. always keep in mind the final goal and user ). Always understand what benefits your application can bring to users. What types of information will your application display, what functions are available, and how can users obtain the information and functions? Paying enough attention to the user experience of mobile apps helps to ensure success.

About this series:In recent years, mobile applications have experienced explosive growth, as have the mobile development technology market. This series is a new series that introduces mobile applications to developers familiar with programming but unfamiliar with mobile technology. This section describes how to use Java code to encode local applications, and then extend the toolkit to include the JVM language, script framework, HTML5/CSS/JavaScript, and third-party tools. This series of articles will take you step by step to master these necessary technologies and actually deal with all mobile development scenarios.

Unlike traditional GUI development for desktop or Web applications, mobile application rules are preferred. When you decide to design an application interface, you may want to make it easier. Most mobile devices are very small unless you are dealing with Samsung Note 4, which is the biggest mobile phone I have ever seen, also known as tablets ). Small Size is an important reason for its popularity, because people can carry it with them and use it at any time. This leads to another important discovery of mobile apps. Most users do not pay attention to apps when using mobile devices.

Some mobile applications are built specifically for tablets, just to achieve business use, such as Doctor access to patient records ). Most mobile applications require users to access through micro devices. Frankly speaking, users also do other things. When I am online waiting to buy some daily necessities, I may be playing with angry birds. After a long flight is completed, emails may be scanned during this time period. However, I may continue to use the mobile app if I can load Angry Birds or email messages with a single click or a single stroke.

Another factor that separates mobile applications from traditional Web and desktop applications is the quantity. For each Web application, it is easy to obtain 100 mobile applications. Use your applications to provide multiple valuable services, ensuring that these applications are easy to use and attractive. If you want the user to use your application through RTM reference user manual, you create a problem for the user, which will eventually become your problem. It doesn't matter whether the user is visiting the doctor who recorded the patient or who is playing Cut-the-Rope in the lounge. If your application can be installed in just a few minutes, You may search the App Store to find an application that requires a shorter time.

(Hello) Overheard Word

If you have read the first article in this series, you will know how to build an Android development environment in Eclipse. in the previous article, you have configured the Android SDK for Android 4.2. You have completed the first Android Application, the classic Hello World. In this article, you will continue to design a more unique application.

My example app Overheard Word aims to make it more interesting and easier to learn new words and use new words in context. By the way, this is my two biggest hobbies. In this application, the user can perform a test after learning a few words. The interface consists of a display interface and two buttons. Words and their corresponding definitions are displayed, while buttons are used for user navigation.

Overheard Word is an interesting and simple mobile app that applies to people who like to learn words. I mean to describe them with Word idiots and Word experts ). More importantly, this example can be used as an example to build a valid Android Application. You can deploy it to a real Android device.

Target applications

Before designing an application, I like to evaluate the target market. The application built in part 1 is intended for Android 1st or API Version 17. Check out the most popular Android version released by Google. See Figure 1 ):

Figure 1. Android distribution, sorted by version number

Tablets and mobile phones:In Figure 1, the sales volume of tablet computers may be caused by the increase of Android 15 users. No matter which vendor, most tablets currently run Android 4.x. Unless you build a computer application on the Android platform, whether your application should be set to Android API 9 and 10, which is currently the mainstream market for mobile devices.

Figure 1Show Android 2.3.xAPI versions 9 and 10) currently, it only occupies about half of the Android device market! If half of all Android devices are running Android 2.3.x, isn't Development for this market very meaningful?

Start a new project

At the end of the previous article, I have installed API 4.2. Now I want to install Android 2.3.3 (API 10 ). When you start Android SDK Manager again, as shown in figureFigure 2As shown in, you will see some updates that can be installed:

Figure 2. A local Android SDK installer with only one installation version

If you want to work with me, click the Android 2.3.3 (API 10) Installation option to keep the recommended updates specified by the Administrator.

Figure 3. Install Android 2.3.3 (API 10)

After downloading the new Android API, you must create a compatible simulator or Android Virtual Device (AVD ). In Android SDK Manager, select the Tools menu, and then select Manage AVDs. You must create an AVD with the goal of API Level 10.

Figure 4. Create an AVD

Create a New Android Application project and name it. My project name is an Overheard Word application. Set the application's target to API 10 so that it can access the most devices. View carefullyFigure 5Screen, you will notice that I also choose to use API 10 for compilation. You can use a later Android version for compilation, but I like to use the same API for programming and compilation. If you use the recently released API for compilation, you must note that you cannot use any of the features in my application, which may cause compatibility issues .)

Figure 5. Create a new Android project in Eclipse

When you click Next, make sure that your application is not saved as a Library Project. In the next article, the same default settings will be retained for the Hello World application. You can make minor changes later, such as changing the icon file of the application ).

The last step is to name your first Activity. I named my Activity OverheardWord instead of Main, and then named the layout similarly. If you also use API 10 as the target version, the last dialog box contains several Navigation Type options. Don't worry about it now; in subsequent articles, I will show you how to create a navigation menu. For this application, keep your Navigation Type option as none.

Figure 6. Create a default Activity

Click Finish to create a project, which is similar to the default project created last time.