common UI for all the device irrespective of size

Question

My application works fine on the handset but when I am running it onto the TAB UI becomes too small.But I want size of the UI to be relative to the size of device. Do I need to add anything in manifest .Whats wrong I am doing.Here is My XML

 <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
android:orientation="vertical">

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/textView1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Select The Game Level" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Level1" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button2"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="level2" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button3"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="level3" />
 </LinearLayout>
Handset UI appearence

Handset UI appearence

Tablet UI appearence

Tablet UI appearence

with TAB UI , you mean Tablet User interface ? what is the resolution of the Tablet ? — Raptor, Aug 26 '13 at 08:02
@MT8N0 at present I only have only one layout ..I just started working. But at this stage only I am getting this problem. — Shakeeb Ayaz, Aug 26 '13 at 08:03
@ShivanRaptor by TAB I mean andriod Tablet device. I am working on handset of 5 inch and tablet of 7inch .Compared to handset ,UI is very small in Tablet — Shakeeb Ayaz, Aug 26 '13 at 08:06
I did all kind of search but no outcome ..here is another question with same problem http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10141054/android-views-not-scaling-on-different-sized-devices?rq=1 — Shakeeb Ayaz, Aug 26 '13 at 08:07
and there you go http://developer.android.com/design/style/index.html — An-droid, Aug 26 '13 at 08:09
@ShivanRaptorI updated my question with the screenshots.please have a look — Shakeeb Ayaz, Aug 26 '13 at 08:18
"size of the UI to be relative to the size of device" is a bad idea. People with tablets don't want giant buttons, they want to see more content at once on the screen — zapl, Aug 26 '13 at 08:21
@zapl Thank for suggestion.may be its bad idea but how can I do that is it possible — Shakeeb Ayaz, Aug 26 '13 at 08:24

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:30

Let's try and explore your presumptions here:

Your buttons size is set to "wrap_content". Meaning that it's dependant on the size of the text it wraps.
You want your buttons to change visual size depending on the visual size of the screen your displaying your app on.
Therfore: you're basically expecting the font size to change depending on your devices's screen.

I do not feel this is the right approach in achieving what you want. There are several tools that can help you here, let's explore one: the weight attribute: What does android:layout_weight mean?

Here is an example of an array of buttons, that would look visually similar on any screen (the emphasize is on "similar" here. But this is what you're trying to achieve):

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/btnMainMenuTestUSB"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Button1" />

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/btnMainMenuSetLocationNew"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Button2" />
    </LinearLayout>

     <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/btnLineOfSight"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Button3" />

               <Button
            android:id="@+id/btnTargetScreen"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="Button4" />
    </LinearLayout>

THanks. But what about the complex UI which will have Text, button, spinner, nested Layout then in that case weight params may not work there — Shakeeb Ayaz, Aug 26 '13 at 08:48
Again - what are you trying to achieve here? If you want the text to change size, you need a different style xml per density/screensize/etc. Nested spinners and certain layouts can be set to "match_parent", so they will simply display more items. Complex layouts might need to be layouted from scratch to wisely handle the space changes. IMHO this is not a "one-answer-fits-all" kind of question. — Vaiden, Aug 26 '13 at 13:33

common UI for all the device irrespective of size

1 Answers1