[android-developers] Re: Can I use drawable-small, large, xlarge instead of hdpi, mdpi, ldpi?

You should keep the following in mind: a larger screen does not
necessarily mean a higher pixel density screen. And that's the big
reason why you can't just consider screen size and not screen density.
I don't think one exists, but in theory you could have an xlarge
screen device with a low pixel density (ldpi). You should expect some
normal size screens to have mdpi and others to have hdpi densities.
Same with large and xlarge screens (both mdpi and ldpi).

I would say that *in general* you would use ldpi, mdpi and hdpi for
drawables (so your images appear with the right amount of detail for
that device's screen density), and small, large and xlarge for layouts
(where you'll probably have less stuff, including images, on small
screens versus the larger screens).

Hope this helps.

- dave
http://www.androidbook.com/proandroid3

On Aug 14, 1:58 pm, Droid <rod...@gmail.com> wrote:
> So on an hdpi screen the icons will be smaller.
> So my apps made on a nexus and emulator will
> not display as I believe they will. Rather all my images
> will be smaller whilst text boxes etc will be the same
> (unless I am using dip not sp).
> Then drawable-large folder is for large screens with hdpi or
> mdpi? And I am not sure whether photoshop's dpi setting
> does anything than change the size of the image.
>
> Clearly I need to go to school about all this because I come
> from a programming background. At first site I need larger images
> for larger dpi screens. Hope I can find out how much larger and
> which folder to put them in.
>
> On Aug 14, 5:41 pm, Mark Murphy <mmur...@commonsware.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 4:57 AM, Droid <rod...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I find too many possible image folders confusing and it does not seem
> > > to make any difference if I make an image in Photoshop as 70 dpi, 150
> > > dpi or whatever - it just makes a bigger or smaller image.
>
> > Of course. That's the point. On a high density device, you use a
> > high-pixel-count image to result in something that renders the right
> > size but has more detail. On a low density device, you use a
> > low-pixel-count image to result in something that renders the right
> > size (i.e., not blown up huge).
>
> > > So, can I use just drawable-small, large, xlarge and DROP all my hdpi,
> > > mdpi and ldpi folders
>
> > Not really.
>
> > >  (which confuse me).
>
> > Since screen density is going to be fairly important in all GUI
> > programming going forward, perhaps you should consider learning more
> > about screen density, rather than thinking you can ignore the problem.
>
> > For example, I am typing this on a notebook with a 15.6" notebook with
> > a 1080p (1920x108) display. This is a significantly higher screen
> > density than typical notebooks. As a result, icons, text, etc. tend to
> > come out smaller, since few programmers or Web designers think about
> > screen density. And, sometimes Web designers even actively prevent
> > solutions (e.g., can't increase font size using a browser because
> > they're doing something screwy that just doesn't respond).
>
> > > If I can get away with this, life would be so much easier.
>
> > Not really.
>
> > --
> > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)http://commonsware.com|http://github.com/commonsguyhttp://commonsware.com/blog|http://twitter.com/commonsguy
>
> > _Android Programming Tutorials_ Version 3.9 Available!

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