How to become A Good Android Developer

Imagine what your android smart phone would be without those apps that you love so much. Starting from the apps that you use to access your social media pages and games, apps are essentially make your phone what it is.
Our lives today are so dependent on apps and there are new ones being developed daily for different purposes. The apps have touched our lives in a way that if today they were to disappear from our phones life would never be the same again. Imagine if you did not have that app that you use for your diet program or work out? What if you were unable to access your favorite social media site because you did not have an app to do so?

The importance of apps for the smooth running of our daily lives cannot be overemphasize. This is especially so with the increased migration from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets. Development of apps is slowly becoming a simpler task that anyone can do after a few lessons. However, developing a functional app that can be used by many people is still a challenge to many developers. Developing an app is easy; developing a good one is the more difficult part.

Important tips on developing a good app

Be willing to learn. Just like anything else in life, your willingness to learn will determine if you are able to make a great app or not. App development may not be rocket science but it is also not as simple as taking a cup of tea. Willingness to learn and a little dedication will ensure that you learn all the coding necessary to develop an app fast.

Basic knowledge in some specific areas like XML and Java is an added advantage. This acts as a good foundation of any android developers to build on. Knowledge of these areas makes your learning much easier and faster as you are able to grasp the concept behind app development quicker. However, if you know nothing about any of this it does not mean you cannot become a good app developer. Everything you need to know can still be taught to you.

Trial and error is a good learning experience. In the beginning you may create terrible apps but this shouldn’t discourage you. In a learning process you get better after trying a couple of times. It is through trying that you will be able to identify the areas you are not good at. After a couple of trials you will start noticing some improvements which should encourage you to push on.

Make it as simple as possible. What kind of apps do you like on your phone? Chances are you like the ones that are simple to use. This is the same for most people and so when developing an app the simpler it is the better. Most people learning how to develop apps fail because they are always focusing their effort on developing something very complex. Remember that simple does not mean that your app is substandard.

Focus on the real world. The most successful apps are the ones that try to emulate the real world as much as possible. Unless you are creating a game then the real world should be your main focus when learning and developing your app. When doing this also keep in mind that the purpose of an app is to make things better for its users.

Where to learn

When you think about that magnificent app that you enjoy using so much you assume it was created by a tech graduate from one of the best colleges in the world but that is not necessarily true. Learning how to make an app is quite simple and you can do it online from the comfort of your home.

Some of the good websites you can learn app development would include.

1. Developer Android

Developer Android is Google’s official android app development page. Here you will find all the materials you will need to learn app development.

2. Treehouse
This is a subscription based program but very rich in resources. Here you will get to learn all the basics of app development and also all the complex stuff you will need at a later date.

3.Udemy

Udemy also has a very good course on app development. It is a good place to learn especially for those without prior knowledge.

This article may not be professional for you but these are very important points and can be helpful for those who want to start android development. After all, How can one expect to learn android development from a single article? Go ahead and start learning. best of luck 

   (Wait.!!! ? Are you already a developer ?  I have something for you as well )

                    How to become A Good Android Developer

Writing a mobile app for Android or iOS is easy but designing a great mobile app can be a challenge. Learn how to write better mobile apps with these ten quick tips!

1: Keep it Focused

The best mobile apps focus on doing one thing very well. You should be able to describe what your app does in one sentence without any “ands”. The user should be able to launch it, use it and put it away in seconds having used its primary purpose. If a user has to navigate through four levels of menus to be productive, your app will be quickly uninstalled.

2: Use the Back Button Appropriately

On Android, the native OS supplied back button should navigate the user back consistently. On iOS where the back button is software controlled, you should always supply a back button and it should always be in the top-left hand corner where the user expects it. Following the conventions of back-button behavior and location specific to your operating system is critical to making your app meet your user’s expectations.

3: Think of the Keyboard

Most mobile apps have one or more screens that use keyboard input. Unfortunately many designers don’t think about how the screen will look once the on-screen keyboard is activated. When you do your testing, make sure the user always has enough on-screen context to know what they are doing even when the on-screen keyboard is activated.

4: Consider Placeholders Thoughtfully

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If your application only has a few data input fields, placeholders inside of the field are fine and can make your app look cleaner. If your application has more than a few data entry fields, placeholders instead of field labels can become very confusing. Once the user has entered some information in the field, unless that information is self-evident as to what it is, they won’t know what that information is supposed to be.

5: Challenge New Features

In the old days of application design, software developers focused on adding as many features as possible to their applications. They measured success on being able to tick more feature boxes than the competition. The mobile revolution has really changed this.

In desktop applications, a marginally useful feature added in a sub-menu that a few users found useful was probably a good idea because it could be the key differentiator of your application versus the competition. In mobile applications, a marginally useful feature makes your user interface cluttered and difficult to navigate.

6: Put Tabs in the Right Place

On iOS, the primary tab navigation doesn’t look like tabs. They are icons at the bottom of the window that a user uses to switch between major topic areas of the application. iOS users don’t expect this function at the top of the window where an Android user expects it. On Android, tabs are typically placed at the top of the application and can scroll left-right.

The key observation here is if your app needs to rely upon a “tab” concept as the primary navigation to the main topic areas of your app, you will need to place them differently on iOS versus Android.

7: Watch Your Button Sizes

There is a tendency in simplistic design that says in order to add one more thing we can fit it all in if we just shrink the buttons or font sizes a little. This is a dangerous and slippery slope. If you’ve ever tried to use a web page on your smartphone that wasn’t designed for mobile, you know the experience can be a frustrating exercise in pinch-zooming enough to be able to click the correct hyperlink. In an app, it’s even more problematic as the user doesn’t have the option to zoom in.

Keep your button sizes big enough to use easily and test your app on a small phone like an iPhone 4 to make sure it’s still comfortably usable.

8: Consider Button Placement

When a user is holding a smartphone in their hand, the bottom half of the screen is easily reached by the thumb. Right handed users can access the bottom-right side of the phone the easiest and lefties the opposite.

If you want to be able to use your app one-handed, keep this in mind.

9: Provide the Information Your Users Need

Any time you present your user with a request for input, think about what information the user will need to make a decision as to what action to take. If your UI doesn’t make that information available in the same location you’re prompting them for input, they might need to cancel out and navigate back to where the information is to come back and make the decision.

Save your users the pain and make the information necessary to make the decision at the location where a decision is to be made.

10: Watch Your Image Resolution

Modern smartphones have staggeringly high resolutions that can look absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately if you are still using low resolution images more appropriate to a web site as your icons, your app will look grainy and fuzzy especially next to all of those native operating system rendered fonts and gradients. Make sure you’re using 264ppi or higher images and they should look crisp and clean. There are higher resolution tablets out there than the iPad with Retina (like the Nexus 10 at 300ppi) but 264ppi images will still look crisp and clean even on these devices.

An even better approach is to use vector based images that can scale to any resolution.