Android: How to size buttons?

Question

I'm using several buttons in my app, but both layout_width/height "wrap_content" and "fill_parent" looks weird. The former being to small and the latter too large - both looks weird, and the former is not easy to hit with your finger.

How should I size buttons? Is it typical to define their sizes in dip? Or should I use "fill_parent" with a padding? Buttons looks weird in my app, not so in others.

Answer 1

That is difficult to answer in the abstract. Here are some techniques to consider:

• Use android:padding="4dip" (or some other value) to make a wrap_content Button a bit bigger

• Use android:textSize on the Button to make the content bigger (use some size in scaled pixels, or sp)

• If you want the buttons to fill the space but divide it among themselves, use a LinearLayout, give each button a height (or width, depending if column or row) of 0px, then use android:layout_weight to allocate space between them on a percentage basis. Here is a sample project outlining this technique.

Answer 2

I think it is better to use fill_parent with a padding/margin instead an exact width value. So you are more flexible when the size of the parent view changes.