Introduction
Flutter is certainly one of the leading mobile app development platforms used by over 500,000 developers monthly. True that it allows you to seamlessly develop cross-platform apps with a single codebase – but what about the design? Will the apps naturally deliver a consistent user experience across all the platforms? If you’re seeking answers to these questions, you’re at the right place.
In this blog, we will cover how Flutter manages to keep the design consistent while creating cross-platform apps. If that sounds exciting, let’s get going.
Adaptive UI/UX — Flutter’s Secret to Maintaining Consistent User Experience
Flutter is designed to create apps that look and feel great on any platform be it a watch or a foldable phone. The framework does so by allowing developers to design UI/UX elements that are both adaptive and responsive.
But what exactly do they mean?
While they may sound similar, they are not the same. So let’s understand the difference between adaptive and responsive.
Adaptive
An adaptive app can run on different device types by automatically adjusting the input device type – touch, keyboard, or remote control. It also means having different expectations about the app’s visual density and using platform-specific features.
Responsive
A responsive app, on the other hand, tunes its layout based on the screen size. This is done by relaying out the UI in case the user changes the device orientation or resizes the window. Responsiveness helps the app to quickly adapt to the screen it is accessed from.
Flutter maintains consistent UX across multiple devices with the help of adaptive UI/UX components.
How to Design Adaptive Experiences?
Adaptive layouts come with multiple representations of a single design – one for each screen size chosen by the developer.
Think of adaptive design as multiple components created with the same content. Typically, designers develop unique layouts for six of the most common viewport widths. These include a good range of sizes for both the smallest mobile devices and the largest desktop panel widths: 320px, 480px, 760px, 960px, 1200px, and 1600px.
This means an adaptive design uses exactly one static layout per each anchor point, and adjusts to the screen size once that anchor point has been detected.
While developing unique concepts for different screen sizes, it’s up to developers to understand whether to develop widgets for the same that adapt automatically in different cases.
While developing these widgets, you must avoid code complexity by keeping most of the parameters constant.
Flutter – as it is known for creating multiple apps with a single codebase, allows developers to seamlessly develop adaptive applications that look and feel great on almost all the devices they are accessed from.
Having said that, let’s quickly look at a few tips to improve adaptability while developing apps.
Top 3 Tips to Improve Adaptability
Here are our top 3 tips that will help you make your app more adaptable.
Anticipate adaptability
Even if your app is supporting only one form factor, make sure you configure everything so that it supports adaptability later. In many cases, it’s worth it. Because introducing adaptability by revamping your entire code base is intimidating.
Avoid constants
If possible, remove all the constants from your widget code; whether they are font sizes or paddings. Instead, you can use inherited widgets as long as that’s feasible.
Split your widgets as much as possible
Avoid monolithic widgets that require gigantic build methods – as they are not composable at all. Instead, split build methods into as many small widgets so they can be easily composed to create various layouts. They will not only simplify development but also boost performance.
Final Words
By far Flutter is one of the best frameworks for cross-platform app development. With adaptive components and widgets, it can help you build cross-platform apps that deliver a consistent UX across all devices.
If you’re looking for a reliable Flutter app development company, you’re at the right place. At PLOMO, we have been offering mobile app development services for quite a long now. And hence, we know what it takes to develop Flutter apps that stand out from the crowd.
Simply share your vision with us, and we will be happy to help.
