Fragmenting

To fragment content is a part of the android design. Because of this, a class was developed to fragment content. The following definition describes the meaning of a fragment and how to use it:

“Android 3.0 further helps applications adjust their interfaces with a new class called Fragment. A Fragment is a self-contained component with its own UI and lifecycle; it can be-reused in different parts of an application’s user interface depending on the desired UI flow for a particular device or screen“ (Bray, 2011).

The pictures show a visual example of fragmenting (Bray, 2011):

Also in the Apple design is the idea of fragmenting content included. For example mail on iPhone presents streamlined email functionality in a series of screens and mail on iPad works well in all orientations (landscape shown). See following pictures (Apple, 2010):

Bray, T. 2011. The Android 3.0 Fragments API. android developers (online). Available at: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/02/android-30-fragments-api.html [Accessed 23 February 2011].

Apple, 2010. iPad Human Interface Guidelines. Apple (online). Available at: http://www.hung-truong.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/iPadHIG.pdf [Accessed 18 November 2010].