Posted by Maru Ahues Bouza, Director, Android Developer Relations
Zoom is an all-in-one collaboration platform. Whether or not supporting work streams by means of video, chat, or the platform’s sensible recordings and whiteboard instruments, the group at Zoom goals to simplify private {and professional} communications.
For Zoom engineers, creating the most effective expertise for customers means assembly them the place they’re throughout quite a lot of units with distinctive type elements. Presently, there are greater than 270 million giant screens and foldables in use throughout the Android ecosystem. With this in thoughts, the Zoom group noticed a chance to spice up the app’s help throughout the Android ecosystem, serving to to make sure a seamless consumer expertise on any supported system.
Zoom customers spend extra time on giant screens
In the previous couple of years, the Zoom group has seen elevated pill utilization amongst its consumer base. The Zoom group has seen elevated pill utilization amongst its consumer base, and individuals who use Zoom on each their telephone and pill spend about 62% extra time on their pill. As well as, Zoom pill customers engaged about 2X extra through Zoom than telephone customers.
Zoom engineers wished to present customers on giant screens the identical expertise on their most popular units as these utilizing the app on a smartphone or laptop.
“We wished to ensure giant display customers have the most effective expertise attainable when utilizing Zoom,” stated Will Chan, a product supervisor at Zoom. “Guaranteeing we may scale our cell UI to deal with our consumer wants — no matter their system measurement — was essential, whether or not it is telephones, foldables, or tablets.”
Bettering multi-window help on foldables
Zoom engineers began by utilizing the Jetpack WindowManager library, which gives builders all of the sources they should begin optimizing throughout type elements. Utilizing the library, Zoom engineers made the app’s tabletop UI for foldables extra environment friendly by putting movies on the highest display and transferring any controls to the underside display. This gave customers a extra hands-free expertise, making it simpler for them to make use of the app with their foldable units.
For foldables, Zoom engineers additionally optimized the app’s Staff Chat. After overhauling this function, Zoom’s Staff Chat labored seamlessly in split-screen mode. When in portrait mode, the app would now present a chat preview on the left aspect of the display and the chat particulars on the proper. Small modifications like this make higher use of on-screen house in order that customers can extra simply handle the duties at hand.
Including extra options can result in better complexity. To keep away from complicating the app’s UI on foldables, Zoom engineers used ConstraintLayouts. These assist simplify the app’s interface, decreasing a variety of the complexity that comes with creating a number of layouts on a tool. As a bonus, ConstraintLayouts additionally enhance the app’s efficiency whereas switching between layouts, bettering useability total for customers.
Taking advantage of bigger screens
Giant display units give customers significantly extra onscreen actual property to work with. And with a lot obtainable house on these type elements, Zoom engineers wished to up the app’s multi-window help by permitting customers to enter picture-in-picture mode. Simply as with optimizing for split-screen modes on foldables, picture-in-picture permits customers to higher multitask whereas they’re in conferences or taking a telephone name.
Zoom engineers additionally tweaked the app’s UI to scale accordingly when giant display customers resized their home windows. To do that, the Zoom group used the resizeable emulator in Android studios. Collectively, these instruments let the engineering group preview how the brand new experiences would look throughout many various units, permitting builders to check their optimization earlier than placing it into manufacturing.
“Resizable emulators and Android Studios made testing and growing rather a lot simpler, guaranteeing the consumer expertise is nice on a number of giant display units,” stated Will.
Simple optimization throughout Android
The suite of instruments and sources supplied by Android made it simpler than ever for Zoom engineers to enhance its app throughout type elements. Contemplating there are such a lot of customers on giant screens and foldable units at the moment, Zoom builders had been glad that they might create a extra cohesive UX with out having to exhaust all their sources.
The Zoom group is happy by the worldwide attain of the Android platform and appears ahead to seeing what Android will add to its already-large pool of developer sources and instruments.
“Our engineering group appreciates all of the investments being made within the Jetpack libraries. It’s made their lives a lot simpler whereas growing for Android,” stated Will.
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