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I have tried DroidDraw and the Eclipse layout editor and both seem very difficult to create anything other than very simple layouts. I find myself dropping back to the XML file to be able to manipulate it.

Has anyone found any good tools to design the actual screens? I am not looking for a mock-up tool... but an actual tool to create the XML layouts.

Update: The new eclipse designer with 2.3 is better, but honestly I thought that it would be further along. I don't mind dropping down to the XML when necessary, but just seems like it is time to get some good designer tools in the space.

Brian ONeil
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    I thought this was relevant [Why you don’t really want a WYSIWYG layout editor for Android](http://designbycode.tumblr.com/post/1079612795/why-dont-wysiwyg-android) – Jim McKeeth Aug 22 '11 at 17:41

5 Answers5

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Over the years i've learned that there is no good drag and drop tool for anything. Code, forms, layouts, at the end the best way to create something is going to the src. Since we're talking about mobile device here, good, optimized layouts are important. Therefore it's worth to spend some time and manually edit XML, it will make product better.

Ojonugwa Jude Ochalifu
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Alex Volovoy
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    I believe in the same philosophy, since my java swing days. – Sorter Aug 30 '14 at 03:12
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    Yep, don't use a WYSIWYG editor, it may do things weirdly. Instead the best if you have live preview of what you're editing and text completion for the attributes; see Android Studio (i.e. Android Support plugin for IntelliJ IDEA). Don't be afraid to learn how [the Android layouts work](http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/declaring-layout.html), you shouldn't have to learn more than `LinearLayout` and `RelativeLayout`. – TWiStErRob Oct 15 '14 at 12:10
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try IntelliJ IDEA IDE. It has a good android layout design tool

pleerock
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I created a tool that allows you to scale/adjust your layouts for tablets and small screen devices and made a blog post about it here: http://onemanmobile.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-scale-your-android-layouts-to.html

Basically, defining your layouts in dp units is not enough if you want your app to fit on all devices and tablets, since there's four different "density-buckets". This tool will allow your layouts to be converted into fitting these density buckets.

So in your case, define one layout - and have it scaled as you please..

Andreas Rudolph
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DroidDraw: It's not perfect, but it's a nice start.

Jim McKeeth
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Brandon
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Yeah, its not easy. But if you work with it (Eclipse that is) long enough and you'll figure out the tricks to make things work well.

With complex screens the biggest problem is that they tend not to scale up/down as well as simpler screens. So you may end up designing the screen a few different ways to support multiple screen sizes.

Interestingly enough, for iPhone screen design, the layout part is extremely easy due to the fact that absolute positioning is used, so you just drag stuff exactly where you want it. So for complex Android screens maybe use absolute layout. Most people will tell you this is a bad approach, and I've never used it myself, but who knows. Just keep in mind they myriad of screen sizes that your app will be shown on.

Fraggle
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  • yeah, I am using RelativeLayout a lot these days and using that with dip's I have been able to get apps to translate well between different screens. – Brian ONeil Dec 16 '10 at 15:23