docs/html/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design_action_bar.jd

page.title=Action Bar Icons
parent.title=Icon Design Guidelines
parent.link=icon_design.html
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">

<h2>In this document</h2>

<ol>
<li><a href="#icon11">Android 3.0 and Later</a>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#size11">Size and format</a></li>
    <li><a href="#style11">Style, colors, and effects</a></li>
    <li><a href="#examples11">Example icons</a></li>
  </ol>
</li>
</ol>

<h2>See also</h2>

<ol>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/practices/screens_support.html">Supporting Multiple
Screens</a></li>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html">Using the Action Bar</a></li>
</ol>

</div>
</div>

<div class="design-announce">
<p><strong>New Guides for App Designers!</strong></p> 
<p>Check out the new documents for designers at <strong><a
href="{@docRoot}design/index.html">Android Design</a></strong>, including more guidelines
for <a href="{@docRoot}design/style/iconography.html">Iconography</a>.</p>
</div>


<p>Action Bar icons are graphical elements placed in the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html">Action Bar</a> representing individual action
items.</p>

<p>As described in <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design.html#icon-sets">Providing Density-Specific
Icon Sets</a> and <a href="{@docRoot}guide/practices/screens_support.html">Supporting Multiple
Screens</a>, you should create separate icons for all generalized screen densities, including low-,
medium-, high-, and extra-high-density screens. This ensures that your icons will display properly
across the range of devices on which your application can be installed. See <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design.html#design-tips">Tips for Designers</a>
for suggestions on how to work with multiple sets of icons.</p>

<p><strong>Final art must be exported as a transparent PNG file. Do not include
a background color</strong>.</p>

<p>Templates for creating icons in Adobe Photoshop are available in the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design.html#templatespack">Icon
Templates Pack</a>.</p>



<h2 id="icon11">Android 3.0 and Later</h2>

<p>The following guidelines describe how to design action bar icons for Android
3.0 (API Level 11) and later.</p>


<h3 id="size11">Size and format</h2>

<p>Action Bar icons should be 32-bit PNGs with an alpha channel for transparency. The finished
action bar icon dimensions, corresponding to a given generalized screen density, are shown in
the table below.</p>

<p class="table-caption" id="screens_table"><strong>Table 1.</strong> Summary of
finished Action Bar icon dimensions for each generalized screen density.</p>

<table>
  <tbody>
  <tr>
    <th></th>
    <th>
      <code>ldpi</code> (120 dpi)<br>
      <small style="font-weight: normal">(Low density screen)</small>
    </th>
    <th>
      <code>mdpi</code> (160 dpi)<br>
      <small style="font-weight: normal">(Medium density screen)</small>
    </th>
    <th>
      <code>hdpi</code> (240 dpi)<br>
      <small style="font-weight: normal">(High density screen)</small>
    </th>
    <th>
      <code>xhdpi</code> (320 dpi)<br>
      <small style="font-weight: normal">(Extra-high density screen)</small>
    </th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-weight:normal">
      Action Bar Icon Size
    </th>
    <td>
      18 x 18 px
    </td>
    <td>
      24 x 24 px
    </td>
    <td>
      36 x 36 px
    </td>
    <td>
      48 x 48 px
    </td>
  </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>



<h3 id="style11">Style, colors, and effects</h3>

<p>Action Bar icons are flat, pictured face on, and generally greyscale, depending on the
application's theme. Action Bar icons should not look three-dimensional.</p>

<p>In order to maintain consistency across the application's Action Bar, all Action Bar icons should
use the same color palette and effects.</p>

<p>When using the default "Holo Light" or "Holo Dark" themes, icons should use the color palette
and effects shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, below.</p>



<table class="image-caption">
<tr>
<td class="image-caption-i">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/icon_design/action_bar_holo_light_style.png"
    alt="A view of effects for Action Bar icons for the 'Holo Light' theme.">
</td>
<td class="image-caption-c">
  <div class="caption grad-rule-top">
    <p><strong>Figure 1. </strong>Style and effects for "Holo Light" theme Action Bar icons.</p>
    <div class="image-caption-nested">
    <table>
      <tr><td><em>1.</em></td><td nowrap>Fill color:</td><td><code>#333333</code>, 60% opacity
        <br><br></td></tr>
      <tr><td><em>2.</em></td><td nowrap>Inner content:</td><td>Inner content should subtract from
        the outer shape and consist purely of transparent pixels.</td></tr>
    </table>
    </div>
  </div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table class="image-caption">
<tr>
<td class="image-caption-i">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/icon_design/action_bar_holo_dark_style.png"
    alt="A view of effects for Action Bar icons for the 'Holo Dark' theme.">
</td>
<td class="image-caption-c">
  <div class="caption grad-rule-top">
    <p><strong>Figure 2. </strong>Style and effects for "Holo Dark" theme Action Bar icons.</p>
    <div class="image-caption-nested">
    <table>
      <tr><td><em>1.</em></td><td nowrap>Fill color:</td><td><code>#ffffff</code>, 80% opacity
        <br><br></td></tr>
      <tr><td><em>2.</em></td><td nowrap>Inner content:</td><td>Inner content should subtract from
        the outer shape and consist purely of transparent pixels.</td></tr>
    </table>
    <p class="note"><strong>Note: </strong> icons should should have a transparent background;
      the dark background here is for effect only.</p>
    </div>
  </div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>




<h3 id="examples11">Example icons</h3>

<p>Shown below are example extra-high-density Action Bar icons that are used throughout Android
system applications.</p>

<p class="warning"><strong>Warning:</strong> Because resources can change between platform versions,
you should not reference built-in icons using the Android platform resource IDs (i.e. menu or Action
Bar icons under <code>android.R.drawable</code>). If you want to use any icons or other internal
drawable resources, you should store a local copy of those icons or drawables in your application
resources, then reference the local copy from your application code. In that way, you can maintain
control over the appearance of your icons, even if the system's copy changes. Note that the grid
below is not intended to be complete.</p>

<img src="{@docRoot}images/icon_design/action_bar_examples.png" />