device size design philosophy

[Coffee1633]

I was wondering what sort of device sizes others are designing for if indeed they are designing for smart phones and tablets (desktop apps probably don't apply to this question).

I suppose it depends on the functionality and purpose of the app but ... I am going to go out on a limb here to say that most designers are going to want to port to as many devices as possible and usually both orientations, no? If that is so, then where do people start? I mean, you have to start somewhere with your graphics and the layout. Especially, with regard to tablet or smart phone. If you are designing for as many device sizes and orientations as possible, then are designers usually starting with tablets and then working to smaller sizes such as smart phones? Or vice versa? And why do you prefer it that way? Is it just about graphic scaling issues or are their other considerations to think about? What is your design philosophy when it comes to designing for the 100s or maybe even 1000s of screen sizes out there simultaneously?

I buried this question in a previous post so I am sorry to re-post it here, but this is really heavy on my mind, especially since LiveCode is write once and port everywhere (almost everywhere). If that is the case, isn't it important to keep the "everywhere" part in mind from the beginning of the design process?

What are your thoughts on the subject?

regards,
Coffee16

[stellify]

This is something I've been pondering, but there are other things that I'm trying to get to grips with initially.

I don't yet understand how the write-once-deploy-to-many can work without a proportion of redesign per device, when you are trying to cover a screen size, and resolution density, that varies so widely from an early iPhone to the latest Android device.

Sorry I can't offer an answer, only empathy..

Regards

[Coffee1633]

I don't yet understand how the write-once-deploy-to-many can work without a proportion of redesign per device, when you are trying to cover a screen size, and resolution density, that varies so widely from an early iPhone to the latest Android device.

Exactly. All you have to do is google "how many android devices are there?" and you will see an interesting array of articles. Here is an article called "If Android is so popular, why are many apps still released for iOS first?"

There are a lot of eye opening statistics in that one. Here is one
----------------
Developer concerns about costs and complexity
Developing iOS apps means ensuring they work nicely on a small range of iPhones and/or iPads: generally 6-8 different devices depending how far back the developer wants to go.
On Android, it's a different story: nearly 12,000 different devices out there in the hands of people
-------------------

At first I thought that number was a typo. but it's true. there are almost 12,000 different distinct Android devices as of this year. Google "Android Fragmentation Visualized open signal" for a visualization of the fragmentation problem.

Sorry I can't offer an answer, only empathy..

Empathy is good. I don't want to feel alone against 12000 devices. 8 ish iOS devices are manageable, still a lot of work but 12,000 is just too much.

coffee16