1page.title=New in Android 2page.tags=KitKat,Android 4.4 3@jd:body 4 5 6<p>A quick look at the new patterns and styles you can use to build beautiful Android apps… 7 8 9<h2 id="Android5">Android 5.0 Lollipop</h2> 10 11<h3>Material design</h3> 12 13<p><a href="{@docRoot}design/material/index.html">Material design</a> is a comprehensive guide for 14visual, motion, and interaction design across platforms and devices. Android 5.0 provides a new 15theme, new widgets for complex views, and new APIs for shadows and animations that help you 16implement material design patterns in your apps.</p> 17 18<h3>Notifications</h3> 19 20<p><a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/notifications.html">Notifications</a> receive important 21updates in Android 5.0, with material design visual changes, notification availability in the 22lockscreen, priority notifications, and cloud-synced notifications.</p> 23 24 25<h2 id="kitkat">Android 4.4 KitKat</h2> 26 27<img src="{@docRoot}design/media/branding_googlemusic.png" style="float:right;width:260px;padding-left:3em;margin-left: 28px;margin-right:15%;"> 28 29<h3> 30 Your branding 31</h3> 32 33 34<p> 35 Consistency has its place in Android, but you also have the flexibility to 36 customize the look of your app to reinforce your brand. 37</p> 38 39<p> 40 Use your brand color for accent by overriding the Android framework's default 41 blue in UI elements like checkboxes, progress bars, radio buttons, sliders, 42 tabs, and scroll indicators. 43</p> 44 45<p> 46 Show your app's launcher icon and name in the action bar so that users can 47 see it in every screen of your app. 48</p> 49<p> 50 <a href="{@docRoot}design/style/branding.html">Your Branding</a> highlights 51 these and other pointers on how to incorporate elements of your brand into your 52 app's visual language — highly encouraged! 53</p> 54 55<h3> 56 Touch feedback 57</h3> 58 59<p> 60 Before Android KitKat, Android's default touch feedback color was a vibrant 61 blue. Every touch resulted in a jolt of high-contrast color, in a shade that 62 might not have mixed well with your brand's color(s). 63</p> 64 65 66<p> 67 In Android KitKat and beyond, touch feedback is subtle: when something is 68 touched, by default its background color slightly darkens or lightens. This 69 provides two benefits: (1) <a href= 70 "/design/get-started/principles.html#sprinkle-encouragement">sprinkles 71 of encouragement</a> are more pleasant than jolts, and (2) incorporating your 72 branding is much easier because the default touch feedback works with 73 whatever hue you choose. Check the updated <a href= 74 "/design/style/touch-feedback.html">Touch Feedback</a> page for more 75 details. 76</p> 77<img src="{@docRoot}design/media/touch_feedback_reaction_response.png" style="padding-top:1em;"> 78 79<h3> 80 Full screen 81</h3> 82 83<p> 84 Android KitKat has improved support for letting your app use the entire 85 screen, with a few different approaches to meet the varying needs of apps and 86 content. The new <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/fullscreen.html">Full 87 Screen</a> page will guide you in setting the stage for deep user engagement. 88</p> 89 90<img src="{@docRoot}design/media/fullscreen_landing.png" style="margin:1em auto 2em auto;"> 91 92<h3> 93 Gestures 94</h3> 95<div class="layout-content-row"> 96 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 97<p> 98 The updated <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/gestures.html">Gestures</a> 99 page covers new and updated gestures introduced in Android KitKat: 100 <strong>double touch drag</strong> and <strong>double touch</strong>. These 101 gestures are used for changing the viewing size of content. 102</p> 103 </div> 104 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 105 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/gesture_doubletouch.png"> 106 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/gesture_doubletouchdrag.png"> 107 </div> 108</div> 109 110 111<h2>Android 4.1 Jelly Bean</h2> 112 113<h4>Notifications</h4> 114<div class="layout-content-row"> 115 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 116 <p>Notifications have received some notable enhancements in Android 4.1:</p> 117 <ul> 118 <li>Users can act on notifications immediately from the drawer</li> 119 <li>Notifications are more flexible in size and layout</li> 120 <li>A priority flag helps sort notifications by importance</li> 121 <li>Notifications can be collapsed and expanded</li> 122 </ul> 123 124 <p>The base notification layout has not changed, so app notifications designed for versions 125 earlier than Jelly Bean still look and work the same. Check the updated <a 126 href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/notifications.html">Notifications</a> page for 127 more details.</p> 128 </div> 129 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 130 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/new_notifications.png"> 131 </div> 132</div> 133 134<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 135 136<h4>Resizable Application Widgets</h4> 137<div class="layout-content-row"> 138 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 139 <p>Widgets are an essential aspect of home screen customization, allowing 140 "at-a-glance" views of an app's most important data and functionality right from 141 the user's home screen. Android 4.1 introduces improved App Widgets that can 142 <strong>automatically resize and load different content</strong> based upon a 143 number of factors including:</p> 144 <ul> 145 <li>Where the user drops them on the home screen</li> 146 <li>The size to which the user expands them</li> 147 <li>The amount of room available on the home screen</li> 148 </ul> 149 150 <p>You can supply separate landscape and portrait layouts for your widgets, which 151 the system inflates as appropriate when the screen orientation changes. The <a 152 href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/widgets.html">Application Widgets</a> page has useful 153 details about widget types, limitations, and design considerations.</p> 154 </div> 155 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 156 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/new_widgets.png"> 157 </div> 158</div> 159 160<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 161 162<h4>Accessibility</h4> 163<div class="layout-content-row"> 164 <div class="layout-content-col span-11"> 165 <p>One of Android's missions is to organize the world's information and 166 make it universally accessible and useful. Our mission applies to all 167 users-including people with disabilities such as visual impairment, color 168 deficiency, hearing loss, and limited dexterity.</p> 169 <p>The new <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/accessibility.html">Accessibility</a> 170 page provides details on how to design your app to be as accessible as possible by:</p> 171 <ul> 172 <li>Making navigation intuitive</li> 173 <li>Using recommended touch target sizes</li> 174 <li>Labeling visual UI elements meaningfully</li> 175 <li>Providing alternatives to affordances that time out</li> 176 <li>Using standard framework controls or enable TalkBack for custom controls</li> 177 <li>Trying it out yourself</li> 178 </ul> 179 180 <p>You can supply separate landscape and portrait layouts for your 181 widgets, which the system inflates as appropriate when the screen 182 orientation changes. The 183 <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/widgets.html">Widgets</a> page has 184 useful details about widget types, limitations, and design considerations.</p> 185 </div> 186 <div class="layout-content-col span-2"> 187 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/new_accessibility.png"> 188 </div> 189</div> 190 191<h2>Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich</h2> 192 193<h4>Navigation bar</h4> 194<div class="layout-content-row"> 195 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 196 <p>Android 4.0 removes the need for traditional hardware keys on 197 phones by replacing them with a virtual navigation bar that houses 198 the Back, Home and Recents buttons. Read the 199 <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/compatibility.html">Compatibility</a> 200 pattern to learn how the OS adapts to phones with hardware buttons and 201 how pre-Android 3.0 apps that rely on menu keys are supported.</p> 202 </div> 203 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 204 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/whats_new_nav_bar.png"> 205 </div> 206</div> 207 208<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 209 210<h4>Action bar</h4> 211<div class="layout-content-row"> 212 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 213 <p>The action bar is the most important structural element of an Android 214 app. It provides consistent navigation across the platform and allows your 215 app to surface actions.</p> 216 </div> 217 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 218 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/whats_new_action_bar.png"> 219 </div> 220</div> 221 222<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 223 224<h4>Multi-pane layouts</h4> 225<div class="layout-content-row"> 226 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 227 <p>Creating apps that scale well across different form factors and screen 228 sizes is important in the Android world. Multi-pane layouts allow you to 229 combine different activities that show separately on smaller devices into 230 richer compound views for tablets.</p> 231 </div> 232 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 233 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/whats_new_multipanel.png"> 234 </div> 235</div> 236 237<div class="vspace size-2"> </div> 238 239<h4>Selection</h4> 240 241<div class="layout-content-row"> 242 <div class="layout-content-col span-7"> 243 <p>The long press gesture which was traditionally used to show contextual 244 actions for objects is now used for data selection. When selecting data, 245 contextual action bars allow you to surface actions.</p> 246 </div> 247 <div class="layout-content-col span-6"> 248 <img src="{@docRoot}design/media/whats_new_multiselect.png"> 249 </div> 250</div> 251
