CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-layoutresources
Khurram Shehzad
Khurram Shehzad

Reputation: 1010

which resolution images to design for different android drawables folder

hey everyone
I've been facing drawables and layout related issues for a few days....
there are drawable-ldpi, drawable-mdpi, drawable-hdpi, drawable-xhdpi and drawable-xxhpdi folders in resources directory in android project
I've gone through the official android doc several times it definitely explains everything pretty well
e.g scaling ratios for ldpi(0.75), mdpi(1), hdpi(1.5), xhdpi(2)
but i couldn't find any information regarding which resolution to start with???
for example if i start designing graphics resources for xhdpi folder then which resolution i should go for???
as there are many devices out there which lie in extra high density bucket but each having different resolutions, for example

  1. Nexus4 (768x1280 xhdpi)
  2. Nexus 10 (2560x1600 xhdpi)
  3. Galaxy Nexus (720x1280 xhdpi)
    same is the case with hdpi and mdpi bucket, lots of devices are there then which resolution images we should place in the corresponding folder????
    please guide me guys m really in trouble

Upvotes: 0

Views: 949

Answers (3)

Tom Tsagkatos
Tom Tsagkatos

Reputation: 1494

dpi has nothing to do with resolution. The dpi system is made so that a certain image will be (about) the same physical size no matter of the screen density, for example Google suggests that Buttons should be 48dp which is (about) 9mm on ANY density, but resolutions are different on any device, and including tablets you can't really worry about resolutions.

When making an app think about how you want to look, not in exact manners, for example "I want this line to have four buttons", make a LinearLayout with four buttons and you are done! (Sometimes you may want to include a horizontalScrollView depending on the size of the buttons).

Over time you will manage to understand this better, it's a matter of practise!

Upvotes: 0

Gabriele Mariotti
Gabriele Mariotti

Reputation: 363687

Look at @CommonsWare's answer. I add that we are talking of dpi.

MDPI (160dpi)
HDPI (240dpi) 
XHDPI (320dpi)
XXHDPI (480dpi)
XXXHDPI (640dpi)

Then: to convert between dp and pixels use this formula:

px = dp × density ÷ 160

Upvotes: 1

CommonsWare
CommonsWare

Reputation: 1006624

but i couldn't find any information regarding which resolution to start with?

For the vast majority of apps, if you are worrying about resolution, you are doing it wrong.

Ask yourself how you would write this as a Web app. Browser windows can have an arbitrary number of pixels of width and height, because the user can resize those windows as she sees fit. You are not going to design distinct imagery for a 1023x805 window instead of a 1037x740 window. Instead, you are going to take some approach that can handle a reasonable range of window sizes, perhaps with alternative artwork when you jump to a new range of window sizes.

Then, take that design approach, and apply it to your Android app. Focus on screen size and density, not resolution.

which resolution images we should place in the corresponding folder?

Resolution has nothing to do with density.

Upvotes: 0

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