Text size and different android screen sizes

Question

I know  it was discussed already 1000 times  but I can t adjust the text size for different screen sizes  I try to use  sp  as size units in my custom style    lt style name  CustumButtonStyle  parent   android style Widget Button  gt               lt item name  android textSize  gt 30sp lt  item gt           lt  style gt    In 2 7 QVGA it looks OK      But in 7in WSVGA it looks like this     I ve tried to use both  sp  and  dp  with the same result   Could you please explain how to make these buttons look the same on any screen   The full custom button style   lt style name  CustumButtonStyle  parent   android style Widget Button  gt       lt item name  android background  gt  drawable custom button lt  item gt       lt item name  android layout width  gt fill parent lt  item gt       lt item name  android layout height  gt wrap content lt  item gt       lt item name  android layout margin  gt 3dp lt  item gt       lt item name  android textColor  gt  ffffff lt  item gt       lt item name  android gravity  gt center lt  item gt       lt item name  android textSize  gt 30sp lt  item gt       lt item name  android textStyle  gt bold lt  item gt       lt item name  android shadowColor  gt  000000 lt  item gt       lt item name  android shadowDx  gt 1 lt  item gt       lt item name  android shadowDy  gt 1 lt  item gt       lt item name  android shadowRadius  gt 2 lt  item gt   lt  style gt    And in my application theme I have   lt item name  android buttonStyle  gt  style CustumButtonStyle lt  item gt    And there is my layout    lt RelativeLayout xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  android id    id RelativeLayout1  android layout width  fill parent  android background   drawable grid  android gravity  center  android orientation  vertical  android layout height  fill parent  gt    lt Button     android id    id buttonContinue      android layout width  wrap content      android layout height  wrap content      android layout alignParentTop  true      android layout centerHorizontal  true      android layout gravity  center      android gravity  center      android text   string continue game  android layout marginTop  3dp  android layout marginBottom  3dp   gt      lt Button     android id    id buttonNewGame      android layout width  wrap content      android layout height  wrap content      android layout alignLeft    id buttonContinue      android layout alignRight    id buttonContinue      android layout below    id buttonContinue      android layout gravity  center      android gravity  center      android text   string new game  android layout marginTop  3dp  android layout marginBottom  3dp   gt      lt Button     android id    id ButtonAbout      android layout width  wrap content      android layout height  wrap content      android layout alignLeft    id buttonNewGame      android layout alignRight    id buttonNewGame      android layout below    id buttonNewGame      android layout gravity  center      android gravity  center      android text   string about  android layout marginTop  3dp  android layout marginBottom  3dp   gt

User · Answer

I think its too late to reply on this thread. But I would like to share my idea or way to resolve text size problem over difference resolution devices. Many android developer sites suggest that we have to use sp unit for text size which will handle text size for difference resolution devices. But I am always unable to get the desired result. So I have found one solution which I am using from my last 4-5 projects and its working fine. As per my suggestion, you have to place the text size for each resolution devices, which is bit tedious work, but it will fulfill your requirement. Each developer has must listen about the ratio like 4:6:8:12 (h:xh:xxh:xxxh respectively). Now inside your project res folder you have to create 4 folder with dimens file e.g.

res/values-hdpi/dimens.xml
res/values-xhdpi/dimens.xml
res/values-xxhdpi/dimens.xml
res/values-xxxhdpi/dimens.xml

Now inside dimens.xml file you have to place text sizes. I am showing you code for values-hdpi, similarly you have to place code for other resolution values/dimens.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
   <dimen name="text_size">4px</dimen>
</resources>

For other resolutions it is like xhdpi : 6px, xxhdpi : 8px, xxxhdpi : 12px. This is calculated with the ratio (3:4:6:8:12) I have written above. Lets discuss other text size example with above ratio. If you want to take text size of 12px in hdpi, then in other resolution it would be

hdpi : 12px
xhdpi : 18px
xxhdpi : 24px
xxxhdpi : 36px

This is the simple solution to implement required text size for all resolutions. I am not considering values-mdpi resolution devices here. If any one want to include text size for this resolution then ration is like 3:4:6:8:12. In any query please let me know. Hope it will help you people out.

User · Answer

forcelain I think you need to check this Google IO Pdf for Design  In that pdf go to Page No 77 in which you will find how there suggesting for using dimens xml for different devices of android for Example see Below structure    res values dimens xml  res values-small dimens xml  res values-normal dimens xml  res values-large dimens xml  res values-xlarge dimens xml   for Example you have used below dimens xml in values    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt resources gt      lt dimen name  text size  gt 18sp lt  dimen gt   lt  resources gt    In other values folder you need to change values for your text size    Note  As indicated by  espinchi the small  normal  large and xlarge have been deprecated since Android 3 2 in favor of the following   Declaring Tablet Layouts for Android 3 2     For the first generation of tablets running Android 3 0  the proper   way to declare tablet layouts was to put them in a directory with the   xlarge configuration qualifier  for example  res layout-xlarge    In   order to accommodate other types of tablets and screen sizes   in   particular  7  tablets   Android 3 2 introduces a new way to specify   resources for more discrete screen sizes  The new technique is based   on the amount of space your layout needs  such as 600dp of width     rather than trying to make your layout fit the generalized size groups    such as large or xlarge        The reason designing for 7  tablets is tricky when using the   generalized size groups is that a 7  tablet is technically in the same   group as a 5  handset  the large group   While these two devices are   seemingly close to each other in size  the amount of space for an   application s UI is significantly different  as is the style of user   interaction  Thus  a 7  and 5  screen should not always use the same   layout  To make it possible for you to provide different layouts for   these two kinds of screens  Android now allows you to specify your   layout resources based on the width and or height that s actually   available for your application s layout  specified in dp units       For example  after you ve designed the layout you want to use for   tablet-style devices  you might determine that the layout stops   working well when the screen is less than 600dp wide  This threshold   thus becomes the minimum size that you require for your tablet layout    As such  you can now specify that these layout resources should be   used only when there is at least 600dp of width available for your   application s UI       You should either pick a width and design to it as your minimum size    or test what is the smallest width your layout supports once it s   complete       Note  Remember that all the figures used with these new size APIs are   density-independent pixel  dp  values and your layout dimensions   should also always be defined using dp units  because what you care   about is the amount of screen space available after the system   accounts for screen density  as opposed to using raw pixel   resolution   For more information about density-independent pixels    read Terms and concepts  earlier in this document  Using new size   qualifiers      The different resource configurations that you can specify based on   the space available for your layout are summarized in table 2  These   new qualifiers offer you more control over the specific screen sizes   your application supports  compared to the traditional screen size   groups  small  normal  large  and xlarge        Note  The sizes that you specify using these qualifiers are not the   actual screen sizes  Rather  the sizes are for the width or height in   dp units that are available to your activity s window  The Android   system might use some of the screen for system UI  such as the system   bar at the bottom of the screen or the status bar at the top   so some   of the screen might not be available for your layout  Thus  the sizes   you declare should be specifically about the sizes needed by your   activity   the system accounts for any space used by system UI when   declaring how much space it provides for your layout  Also beware that   the Action Bar is considered a part of your application s window   space  although your layout does not declare it  so it reduces the   space available for your layout and you must account for it in your   design       Table 2  New configuration qualifiers for screen size  introduced in   Android 3 2   Screen configuration    Qualifier values    Description   smallestWidth     swdp      Examples  sw600dp sw720dp           The fundamental size of a screen  as indicated by the shortest   dimension of the available screen area  Specifically  the device s   smallestWidth is the shortest of the screen s available height and   width  you may also think of it as the  smallest possible width  for   the screen   You can use this qualifier to ensure that  regardless of   the screen s current orientation  your application s has at least    dps of width available for its UI       For example  if your layout requires that its smallest dimension of   screen area be at least 600 dp at all times  then you can use this   qualifier to create the layout resources  res layout-sw600dp   The   system will use these resources only when the smallest dimension of   available screen is at least 600dp  regardless of whether the 600dp   side is the user-perceived height or width  The smallestWidth is a   fixed screen size characteristic of the device  the device s   smallestWidth does not change when the screen s orientation changes       The smallestWidth of a device takes into account screen decorations   and system UI  For example  if the device has some persistent UI   elements on the screen that account for space along the axis of the   smallestWidth  the system declares the smallestWidth to be smaller   than the actual screen size  because those are screen pixels not   available for your UI       This is an alternative to the generalized screen size qualifiers    small  normal  large  xlarge  that allows you to define a discrete   number for the effective size available for your UI  Using   smallestWidth to determine the general screen size is useful because   width is often the driving factor in designing a layout  A UI will   often scroll vertically  but have fairly hard constraints on the   minimum space it needs horizontally  The available width is also the   key factor in determining whether to use a one-pane layout for   handsets or multi-pane layout for tablets  Thus  you likely care most   about what the smallest possible width will be on each device    Available screen width    wdp      Examples  w720dp w1024dp        Specifies a minimum available width in dp units at which the resources   should be used   defined by the  value  The system s corresponding   value for the width changes when the screen s orientation switches   between landscape and portrait to reflect the current actual width   that s available for your UI       This is often useful to determine whether to use a multi-pane layout    because even on a tablet device  you often won t want the same   multi-pane layout for portrait orientation as you do for landscape    Thus  you can use this to specify the minimum width required for the   layout  instead of using both the screen size and orientation   qualifiers together  Available screen height  hdp      Examples  h720dp h1024dp etc            Specifies a minimum screen height in dp units at which the resources   should be used   defined by the  value  The system s corresponding   value for the height changes when the screen s orientation switches   between landscape and portrait to reflect the current actual height   that s available for your UI       Using this to define the height required by your layout is useful in   the same way as wdp is for defining the required width  instead of   using both the screen size and orientation qualifiers  However  most   apps won t need this qualifier  considering that UIs often scroll   vertically and are thus more flexible with how much height is   available  whereas the width is more rigid       While using these qualifiers might seem more complicated than using   screen size groups  it should actually be simpler once you determine   the requirements for your UI  When you design your UI  the main thing   you probably care about is the actual size at which your application   switches between a handset-style UI and a tablet-style UI that uses   multiple panes  The exact point of this switch will depend on your   particular design   maybe you need a 720dp width for your tablet layout    maybe 600dp is enough  or 480dp  or some number between these  Using   these qualifiers in table 2  you are in control of the precise size at   which your layout changes       For more discussion about these size configuration qualifiers  see the   Providing Resources document  Configuration examples      To help you target some of your designs for different types of   devices  here are some numbers for typical screen widths   320dp  a typical phone screen  240x320 ldpi  320x480 mdpi  480x800 hdpi  etc   480dp  a tweener tablet like the Streak  480x800 mdpi   600dp  a 7    tablet  600x1024 mdpi   720dp  a 10    tablet  720x1280 mdpi  800x1280 mdpi  etc         Using the size qualifiers from table 2  your application can switch   between your different layout resources for handsets and tablets using   any number you want for width and or height  For example  if 600dp is   the smallest available width supported by your tablet layout  you can   provide these two sets of layouts       res layout main activity xml             For handsets   res layout-sw600dp main activity xml     For tablets      In this case  the smallest width of the available screen space must be   600dp in order for the tablet layout to be applied       For other cases in which you want to further customize your UI to   differentiate between sizes such as 7    and 10    tablets  you can define   additional smallest width layouts       res layout main activity xml             For handsets  smaller than   600dp available width  res layout-sw600dp main activity xml     For 7      tablets  600dp wide and bigger  res layout-sw720dp main activity xml        For 10    tablets  720dp wide and bigger       Notice that the previous two sets of example resources use the    smallest width  qualifier  swdp  which specifies the smallest of   the screen s two sides  regardless of the device s current   orientation  Thus  using swdp is a simple way to specify the   overall screen size available for your layout by ignoring the screen s   orientation       However  in some cases  what might be important for your layout is   exactly how much width or height is currently available  For example    if you have a two-pane layout with two fragments side by side  you   might want to use it whenever the screen provides at least 600dp of   width  whether the device is in landscape or portrait orientation  In   this case  your resources might look like this       res layout main activity xml           For handsets  smaller than   600dp available width  res layout-w600dp main activity xml      Multi-pane  any screen with 600dp available width or more       Notice that the second set is using the  available width  qualifier    wdp  This way  one device may actually use both layouts  depending   on the orientation of the screen  if the available width is at least   600dp in one orientation and less than 600dp in the other   orientation        If the available height is a concern for you  then you can do the same   using the hdp qualifier  Or  even combine the wdp and hdp   qualifiers if you need to be really specific

User · Answer

I did same by dimension and paint something like  with dp but only for text and in drawText     XML       lt dimen name  text size  gt 30sp lt  dimen gt    Code      Paint p  new Paint           p setTextSize getResources   getDimension R dimen text Size

User · Answer

If you have API 26 then you might consider using autoSizeTextType    lt Button   app autoSizeTextType  uniform    gt    Default setting lets the auto-sizing of TextView scale uniformly on horizontal and vertical axes   https   developer android com guide topics ui look-and-feel autosizing-textview

User · Answer

You can also use weightSum and layout weight property to adjust your different screen   For that  you have to make android layout width   0dp  and android layout width    whatever you want

User · Answer

To unify all of the screens to show same element sizes including font size  - Design the UI on one screen size with whatever sizes you find appropriate during the design i e  TextView font size is 14dp on default screen size with 4 6 inches    Programmatically calculate the physical screen size of the other phones i e  5 2 inches of other phones screens   Use a formula to calculate the percentage difference between the 2 screens  i e  what s the   difference between 4 6 and 5 2  Calculate the pixel difference between the 2 TextViews based on the above formula  Get the actual size  in pixels  of the TextView font-size and apply the pixels difference  you calculated earlier  to the default font-size    With this way you can apply dynamic aspect ratio to all of screen sizes and the result is great  You ll have identical layout and sizes on each screen   It can be a bit tricky at first but totally achieves the goal once you figure the formula out  With this method you don t need to make multiple layouts just to fit different screen sizes

User · Answer

Sometimes  it s better to have only three options   style   android style TextAppearance Small    Use small and large to differentiate from normal screen size    lt TextView             android id    id TextViewTopBarTitle              android layout width  wrap content              android layout height  wrap content              style   android style TextAppearance Small   gt    For normal  you don t have to specify anything    lt TextView             android id    id TextViewTopBarTitle              android layout width  wrap content              android layout height  wrap content   gt    Using this  you can avoid testing and specifying dimensions for different screen sizes

User · Answer

I know it s late but this might help someone     lt androidx constraintlayout widget ConstraintLayout     android layout width  quot match parent quot      android layout height  quot match parent quot  gt        lt TextView         android layout width  quot 0dp quot          android layout height  quot 0dp quot          android autoSizeTextType  quot uniform quot          android gravity  quot center horizontal bottom quot          android text  quot Your text goes here  quot          android layout centerInParent  quot true quot          app layout constraintBottom toBottomOf  quot parent quot          app layout constraintEnd toEndOf  quot parent quot          app layout constraintHeight percent  quot 0 05 quot          app layout constraintHorizontal bias  quot 0 50 quot          app layout constraintStart toStartOf  quot parent quot          app layout constraintTop toTopOf  quot parent quot          app layout constraintVertical bias  quot 0 50 quot          app layout constraintWidth percent  quot 0 50 quot    gt   lt  androidx constraintlayout widget ConstraintLayout gt   Also  if you want to adjust the text size then try changing app layout constraintWidth percent  quot 0 50 quot   app layout constraintHeight percent  quot 0 05 quot   That s all

User · Answer

Everyone can use the below mentioned android library that is the easiest way to make text sizes compatible with almost all devices screens  It actually developed on the basis of new android configuration qualifiers for screen size  introduced in Android 3 2  SmallestWidth swdp   https   github com intuit sdp

User · Answer

Do not hardcode the sizes   For flexibility ad new screen resolutions - the best practice is to place dummy TextView into layout to obtain the textSize    lt TextView         android id    id dummyTextView          android layout width  wrap content          android layout height  wrap content          android visibility  gone          android text  TextView    gt    And in your code for example   TextView testTextView    TextView  rootView findViewById R id dummyTextView   float textSize   testTextView getTextSize      Keep textSize as a reference to which you can add constant or percetage size  by calculating

User · Answer

I think you can archive that by add multiple layout resource for each screen size  example   res layout my layout xml                layout for normal screen size   default   res layout-small my layout xml          layout for small screen size with small text res layout-large my layout xml          layout for large screen size with larger text res layout-xlarge my layout xml         layout for extra large screen size with even larger text res layout-xlarge-land my layout xml    layout for extra large in landscape orientation   Reference  1 http   developer android com guide practices screens support html

User · Answer

As  espinchi mentioned from 3 2  API level 13  size groups are deprecated  Screen size ranges are the favored approach going forward

[android] Text size and different android screen sizes

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