I have a task to convert an iPad application into Android tablet.
I get into my concerns right away.
iPad screen resolution and size is only 2 different versions, so you design in the small resolution and add graphics for the bigger one too. That’s fine in Android you have the drawable folders. But when you testing in emulator shouldn’t I set the resolution iPad like? 1024×748 and test my app there? OK I will have my values with dp,sp, wrap content, fill parent, but my target devices are tablets. What would your opinion be in setting up the emulator for such kind of task?
Next is what about some things with architecture. In the iPad I have views and subviews, child controllers appearing “on top” of the other controller. This can happen with fragments I think so far but, can these fragment layouts have a dimension? or you are just hanging on wrap content etc? I mean you have a view 1024×748 and another view appearing top of it bottom right on the screen 300×300 for example. Different controllers, different views, exchanging data! Any example tutorials on such a design?
Can I just show a “popup” kind with various views inside in a specific position on screen? Like you push a button and a view rectangle with a pointing arrow appears next to it.
Thank you in advance and I hope you can understand what I’m asking. Comment for any inconsistency.
What’s your question here? You have to create a similar App on Android as you have now on iOS. The two platforms are different, both in API and in UI terms. Thus, first of all, you/or a designer at your cmpny have to redesign the app, so it fits into the Android world… So in other words, what matters here is “WHAT YOU DO”, not “HOW YOU DO”… You have to design the same experience for your Android users… And that does not start with simply porting your app, and coding.
You should NOT simply take features form the iPad app, and directly force them into the Android version, as the look&feel, the behavior of the two systems is different. You should dig deep into Android Design Guides before starting that… HERE and HERE
E.g.: In the iPhone world you can use absolute positioning, as you have only a few valid resolutions. In the case of Android, layout has to be dynamic, as you have tons of different resolutions. The recommended layout of programs, the number of hw buttons, these are different. The user expectations are different. An Android phone is operated differently from an iOS based device… Users are expecting functions to be accessible in different ways…
Another approach is to use a framework that enables designing apps for every different platform. Thus, they have an abstraction layer on top of which (with it constraints) you design your app, and than you are able to release it to all of the different platforms (iOS, Android, WP7, W8, Bada, etc, what the actual platform supports..). HERE is an article on such platforms.