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1page.title=UI Patterns for TV
2@jd:body
3
4
5<p>As a developer of apps for TV, you should follow certain patterns to enable users to
6  quickly understand and operate your app. This section describes recommended design patterns
7  for TV apps.</p>
8
9<h2>Navigation, Focus and Selection</h2>
10
11<p>Users typically navigate TV devices using a directional pad (D-Pad). This type of controller
12  limits movement to up, down, left, and right. As you design your app for TV, make sure your
13  user interface has clear paths for two-axis navigation by aligning objects in lists and
14  grids.</p>
15
16<img src="{@docRoot}design/tv/images/focus.png" alt="TV navigation and focus diagram" />
17
18<p>A key aspect of making your application work well with a D-pad controller is to make sure
19  that there is always an object that is obviously in focus. Your app must clearly indicate
20  what object is focused, so users can easily see what action they can take. Use scale, shadow
21  brightness, opacity, animation or a combination of these attributes to help users see a focused
22  object.</p>
23
24<h2 id="banner">App and Game Banners</h3>
25
26<p>Banners are images that represent the face of your app or game on the home
27  screens of Android TV devices and serve as a way for users to launch your app.
28  Here are the requirements for your banner image:</p>
29
30<ul>
31  <li>Size: 320 x 180 px, xhdpi resource</li>
32  <li>Text must be included in the image. If your app is available in more than
33  one language, you must provide versions of the banner image for each supported
34  language.</li>
35</ul>
36
37<p>See <a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/start/start.html#banner">Provide a home screen banner</a>
38in Get Started with TV Apps for more information.</p>
39
40<h2 id="recommendation">Recommendations</h2>
41
42<p>The first row of the Android TV home screen displays cards for content recommended by applications.
43Your application provides these recommendations, as described in
44<a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/discovery/recommendations.html">Recommending TV Content</a>.
45For a visual overview of recommendations, see
46<a href="{@docRoot}design/tv/index.html#recommendations">Designing for Android TV</a>.</p>
47
48<div class="cols">
49  <div class="col-8 with-callouts">
50
51  <p>The design elements of the recommendation card are as follows:</p>
52  <ol>
53  <li><strong>Large icon</strong></li>
54  <li><strong>Content title</strong></li>
55  <li><strong>Content text</strong></li>
56  <li><strong>Small icon</strong></li>
57  </ol>
58
59  <p>The design specifications for these elements are described below.</p>
60
61  <p>You can also set a background image (not shown) and the color of the card's text area in the
62  recommendation notification. See <a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/discovery/recommendations.html">
63  Recommendations</a> for more information.</p>
64
65  </div>
66  <div class="col-5">
67
68    <img src="{@docRoot}images/tv/recommend-card.png">
69
70  </div>
71</div>
72
73<h3>Background Image</h3>
74
75<p>The background image also appears behind the recommendations
76row and fills the Android TV home screen when the user selects the recommendation card. This image
77should be different than the one provided for the large icon, and meet the following specifications:</p>
78
79<ul>
80  <li>Measure 2016 x 1134 pixels (1920 x 1080 plus 5% margin for motion)</li>
81  <li id="solid-background">Must not be transparent</li>
82</ul>
83
84<p class="note">
85  <strong>Note:</strong> If the background image does not meet the size requirements, the system
86  scales it to fit.
87</p>
88
89<p>The user interface widgets provided in the
90  <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/features.html#v17-leanback">v17 leanback support
91  library</a> provide specific support for background images and for updating them as items gain
92  and lose focus.
93</p>
94
95<h3 id="icons">Icons</h3>
96
97<h4>Large icon</h4>
98
99<p>Typically, the large icon is an image of the content for the recommendation. It appears
100above a colored area that contains the recommendation content title and text. This image should be
101different from that which you provide for the background image, and conform to the following
102specifications:</p>
103
104<ul>
105  <li>Height: 176dp or more</li>
106  <li>Minimum width: 2/3 of the height (117dp for an image 176dp in height)</li>
107  <li>Max width: 4/3 of the height (234dp for an image 176dp in height)</li>
108  <li>Must not be transparent</li>
109</ul>
110
111<p class="note">
112  <strong>Note:</strong> If the large icon does not meet the size requirements, the system
113  scales it to fit.
114</p>
115
116<h4>Small icon</h4>
117
118<p>Recommendation cards include a small icon that is imposed over a colored
119background. The icon and background color both display at 100% opacity when the card
120is selected and at 50% opacity when the card is not selected.</p>
121
122<img src="{@docRoot}design/tv/images/icon.png" alt="Recommendation icon examples" />
123
124<p>Here are the requirements for a small recommendation icon:</p>
125
126<ul>
127  <li>Visually flat graphic, monocolor, 16x16dp</li>
128  <li>Color <code>#eeeeee</code> with transparency</li>
129  <li>Graphic centered over transparent background</li>
130  <li>PNG file format</li>
131</ul>
132
133<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The color value <code>#eeeeee</code> is actually a light
134gray, but it is used by the system to create a background which appears white.</p>
135
136<h2>Audio Feedback</h2>
137
138<p>Sounds on Android TV bring a cinematic quality to the interaction experience. You should
139  consider adding sounds for user actions or to provide feedback when a user is only partially
140  visually engaged with the screen (e.g., because they are distracted or multitasking).
141  You should also consider using sounds as alternatives to visual messages. For example, use sounds
142  to indicate that a user has reached the end of a list or is trying to navigate to an undefined
143  location.</p>
144