Slides from Webcast delivered to Tampa Bay Android Developer Group, December 2011

1. If I Were
Starting Now...
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2. Know Why You Are Writing an App
● Money!
– Directly from the app
– Indirectly from other services
– Getting a better job
● Save the World
● Save the Whales
● Save the Cheerleader
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3. Have a Plan
● Who Is Your Market?
● Why Will They Care?
● How Will You Communicate with Them?
● How Will You Get Paid?
– Where relevant
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4. Distribution and Discovery
● Long Tail Distributions
– More competition = less likely to be in head
– Consider mid-sized markets (Kindle Fire, NOOK
Color)
– Consider marketing
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5. Choose Your Screen Targets
● Phone?
– Most in US are “normal” (3-5”)
– Elsewhere, many are “small” (under 3”)
● Tablet?
– Can run from 5” to 10” or over
● TV?
– Inches less relevant due to distance
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6. Fragments and Action Bars
● Use Them. Now.
– Prediction: ~25% of Android devices will be on
ICS by June
● Most Likely Candidate: ActionBarSherlock
– Based on Android Support package
● Gives you fragment support back to Android 1.6
– Provides ActionBar-compatible
implementation
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7. Make It Look “Right Purty”
● Get Good Graphics
– Ideal: custom artwork
– Stopgap: clip art and Android Asset Studio
● Think Color Scheme
– Theme/Theme.Holo = white on black
– Theme.Light/Theme.Holo.Light =
black on white
– Something totally custom
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8. Follow Established UI Patterns
● Don't Reinvent the Wheel
– Especially when users will be expecting existing
wheels and may get confused by your new one
● Classic Example: PreferenceActivity
● If You're Not a UX Expert, Follow One!
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9. Check Your Sanity
● Code Validation Tools
– MOTODEV's AppValidator
– ADT r16 “lint”
● Test Services
– TestDroid
– LessPainful
– Apkudo
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10. BACK UP YOUR
SIGNING KEY!
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11. Don't Worry About Pirates
● “Obscurity is a far greater threat... than
piracy” – Tim O'Reilly
● Options
– Have a reason for the app beyond per-app fee
– Focus on who is paying
● People who don't know of pirated copies
● People who think piracy is immoral
● People who love your work
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12. Getting Help
● Where
– StackOverflow
– [android-developers] Google Group
– Other specialized forums
● How
– Write good questions!
– If crashing, include stack trace and
relevant portion of code!
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