Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Styling Apps In Android - Not for the Faint of Heart

If it's one thing I would like to see in future Android APIs is more support for the artistic side of app creation.

Coming from a Web/CSS background, I was expecting things like drop shadows, gradients, rounded corners, selective border colours etc. to be relatively easy to implement. As it turns out, it's not. For example, getting rounded corners on an ImageView involves a fair amount of coding (as illustrated here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16208365/create-circular-image-view-in-android). It's especially hurtful when doing the same in iOS is so headslappingly simple http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7705879/ios-create-a-uiimage-or-uiimageview-with-rounded-corners I just wish making my apps look cool was a much easier process.


Anyway, if anybody feels the same way, knows of easier ways to achieve aesthetic gold or if the styling and graphics APIs are supposed to get a reboot anytime soon, sound off in the comments below.