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Chapter 8


Android UI Design: Using


Advanced ViewGroup Layout


Containers


The Android OS includes a number of ViewGroup subclasses that make advanced user interface
layout design available to all Android developers, and fortunately this also includes the “Absolute
Beginner!” This is precisely why I’m including this chapter in the book, and only halfway through the
book, at that! To be able to implement advanced user interface layouts right “out of the box” is a
testament to the quality and reach of the Android API.


One of the ways that I am “refreshing” this Android Apps for Absolute Beginners title in its third edition
is the incorporation of many of the changes that have taken place with the Android 4.x versions
and in the Android 5.x versions. One of the areas which has had the most change in Android 4
and Android 5 is the area of user interface design and user experience. Three powerful UI design
layout container classes have been introduced since V4.0, so I added this chapter to the book
in order to specifically cover the UI layout classes which were introduced in Android 4. I will also
include a chapter at the end of the book which will cover the UI layout classes which are slated to
be introduced in Android 5, so that you are completely up to speed as of 2015 and 2016 for your
Android development.


In this chapter, we will be covering Android’s more advanced user interface layout design classes,
including the powerful, grid-based UI layout container class, GridLayout, and a sliding-drawer-
based UI layout container class called SlidingPaneLayout. Both of these popular Android user
interface layout container classes, which you have seen utilized in many of the apps currently on
your Android devices, are built upon the foundation of the Android ViewGroup superclass, which you
learned all about back in Chapter 6.

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