Android LinearLayout doesn't look the same on an actual device

Question

I am creating a custom digit pad for an Android app. I used several horizontal LinearLayout for that.

Here is the code related to that part of the activity:

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="67dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit1"
        android:layout_width="117dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/rsz_untitled_3" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit2"
        android:layout_width="118dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_2" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit3"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_3" />

</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="70dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit4"
        android:layout_width="117dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_4" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit5"
        android:layout_width="118dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_5" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit6"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_6" />

</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="64dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit7"
        android:layout_width="117dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_7" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit8"
        android:layout_width="118dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_8" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit9"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_9" />

</LinearLayout>

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="64dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digitvoid"
        android:layout_width="117dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digit0"
        android:layout_width="118dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_0" />

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/digitdelete"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="67dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        app:srcCompat="@drawable/digit_delete" />

</LinearLayout>

Here you can see how this looks like in Android studio, and how it looks like on an actual device. I don't understand why is this happening. I am using dp (which per my understanding should be dynamic pixels), so they should scale well on every device.

Answer 1

You are using a fixed size on your views, because different phones got different screen size that will make your screen not responsive.

If you want to use LinearLayout you will probably want to use android:layout_weight and android:weightSum attributes in order to give your views some size relatively to your screen. You can do this and it will work, but all of the nested views will most likely affect your layouts performance.

If you want a layout that will be responsive to all screen size you can use ConstraintLayout with chains, here is an example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout 
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="match_parent">

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="1"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button10"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button10"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_chainStyle="packed"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button10" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button2"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="0"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button11"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button5"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/button4" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button11"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="x"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button2"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="@+id/button3"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button4"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button2" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button3"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="8"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button4"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button4"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button4" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button4"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="8"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/button2"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button3"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button5"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/button7" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button5"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="7"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button4"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button4"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_chainStyle="packed"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button4" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button6"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="6"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button7"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button7"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button7" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button7"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="5"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/button4"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button6"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button8"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/button10" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button8"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="4"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button7"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button7"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_chainStyle="packed"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button7" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button9"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="3"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="@+id/button10"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button10"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@+id/button10" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button10"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="2"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/button7"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button9"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/button"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintVertical_chainStyle="packed" />
 </android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

It will look like this: