The Android screen fragmentation myth

Android’s various screen sizes – how big of a problem is it, really, for developers? Not a big one, according to iOS and Android developer Russell Ivanovic:

The answer tends to surprise pretty much everyone: It’s not that hard, and honestly causes us less headaches than most people imagine. Firstly, the tools Google give us to lay out interfaces have supported this from day one. You’ve been able to define one or more layouts that scale to various sizes, and if you want to get everything perfect, you can have as many of these layouts as you like, while still keeping the one codebase. The layouts are XML, and don’t live in your code. If you’re an iOS developer they are pretty much the equivalent of XIB files with size classes like iOS 8. The other part people don’t realise is that Android has standardised on screen resolutions for a long time now.

I’ve long since accepted that certain complaints and issues are mostly only perpetuated by people with an agenda, even long after the actual problems are solved or no longer relevant. There’s Windows and security, Apple and pricing, Android and security – you name it. In order to get a real finger on the true extent of these problems, you have to cut out the official bloggers and party parrots.

Windows has been secure for almost a decade now. Apple’s devices and PCs are not expensive. Android has never been insecure. These are all cases of ‘fear, uncertainty, and doubt’ perpetuated and/or made excessively worse than they really are by people of questionable nature.

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