Category: Developers

Material Design guidelines now include “Bottom Nav” guidelines

Written by Lance Nickel

Google has added some things to their Material Design guidelines. These guidelines are rules and tips for designers looking to design apps on Android, to make the ecosystem consistent. The design is based of off “quantum paper”, which means that many elements use life-like shadows, physics, and other things, while still being smart like a computer.

As you know, Google Photos received an update, which added a bottom bar. Google Plus has had this for a while (Android versions), and they seem to be different. Maybe Google will update them?

The thing that kind of annoys me about Material Design is that Google themselves do not adhere to these rules as much. As nice as this system is, it could be a lot more consistent across Android, let alone Google’s own suite of Apps.

Here are some guidelines for the bottom navs:

  • It should only be used if there are 3-5 top level views
  • Less than 3 views? Use a tab bar.
  • More than 5? Use a slide-out nav.
  • It should be fixed and not scrollable.
  • Web based apps can use them as a sidebar, rather than a large bottom bar.
header image thanks to Google

Android N factory images are ready to install

Written by Lance Nickel

If you happen to own a Nexus 6P, 5X, 6, and 9, or you happen to own a Pixel C, you are in luck.

Today, Google released the developer version of Android N. You can download if you are a developer via their developer website. This is actually a surprise, because Google usually releases these previews during their I/O keynote, but that is not coming for another few months.

Some new features that developers are able to play around with (and make their apps compatible with) are some new native split screen technology. They also have a new notification system that they can take advantage of, as well as quick replies from the notifications.

Of course, with all of the updates, they will have performance improvements in this version, and this time were are expecting to see some new battery saving features.

For most people, the [soon to be released] beta program will be the easiest method. This method will install this version like any over the air (OTA) update. For those of you who like to use a computer to flash your phone, that is already up and available for download.

header image thanks to Google (Android)