Android Studio - 16 - Android Material Design Components

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Material Design is a design language developed by Google that focuses on creating a consistent and visually appealing user experience across different platforms and devices. Android Studio provides a wide range of Material Design components that help developers build modern, responsive, and visually appealing Android apps. In this guide, we’ll explore Android Material Design components, including how to use them in your app, common components, and provide examples for better understanding.

Introduction to Material Design

Material Design is a design system developed by Google that encompasses principles, guidelines, and a comprehensive set of UI components and styles. It’s characterized by its use of realistic shadows, bold colors, responsive animations, and a focus on user interactions. Material Design aims to create visually pleasing and intuitive user interfaces.

Using Material Design Components in Android Studio

Android Studio simplifies the integration of Material Design components into your Android app development process. Here’s how to get started:

1. Set Up the App Theme

To use Material Design components, make sure your app uses a Material Design theme. Open your app’s styles.xml file and set the theme to a Material Design theme. For example, you can use the Theme.MaterialComponents theme:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.Light">
    <!-- Customize theme attributes -->
</style>

2. Include the Material Design Library

In your app’s build.gradle file, add the Material Design library as a dependency:

implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.6.0'

Sync your project to apply the changes.

3. Use Material Design Components

You can now use Material Design components in your layout XML files. Android Studio provides a visual design editor that simplifies adding and configuring these components. Some common Material Design components include:

Common Material Design Components

1. Buttons

Material Design offers various button styles, including raised buttons, outlined buttons, and text buttons. Here’s an example of a raised button:

<com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Submit"
    app:cornerRadius="4dp"
    app:backgroundTint="@color/colorPrimary"
    />

2. Text Fields

Material Design provides attractive text fields with floating labels. Here’s an example of a text field:

<com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    app:hintEnabled="true"
    app:hint="Username"
    >

    <com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputEditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />

</com.google.android.material.textfield.TextInputLayout>

3. Navigation Drawer

The Navigation Drawer is a common UI pattern in Android apps. Material Design provides guidelines and components for creating a navigation drawer. Here’s an example of a navigation drawer layout:

<androidx.drawerlayout.widget.DrawerLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    >

    <!-- Main content -->
    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        >

        <!-- Your app's content here -->

    </LinearLayout>

    <!-- Navigation Drawer -->
    <com.google.android.material.navigation.NavigationView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="start"
        app:menu="@menu/navigation_drawer_menu"
        />

</androidx.drawerlayout.widget.DrawerLayout>

4. Snackbar

A Snackbar is a lightweight feedback message that appears at the bottom of the screen. It’s commonly used to display short messages to the user. Here’s an example of showing a Snackbar:

Snackbar.make(view, "Message Sent", Snackbar.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

Customizing Material Design Components

While Material Design components come with predefined styles and behaviors, you can customize them to match your app’s branding and design requirements. You can modify attributes such as colors, typography, and shapes to create a unique look and feel.

For example, to change the primary color used by Material Design components, you can override the colorPrimary attribute in your app’s values/colors.xml file:

<color name="colorPrimary">#FF5722</color>

Accessibility and Material Design

When using Material Design components, it’s essential to consider accessibility. Android provides accessibility tools and guidelines to ensure that your app is usable by people with disabilities. Material Design components are designed with accessibility in mind, but you should still test your app to ensure it complies with accessibility standards.

Conclusion

Material Design components provided by Android Studio simplify the process of creating modern and visually appealing Android apps. By following the Material Design guidelines and using these components, you can create user-friendly and responsive apps that offer a consistent and delightful user experience. Customization options allow you to tailor the components to your app’s unique design requirements while still adhering to Material Design principles.

Android Studio – 16 – Android Material Design Components