If you’re used to using Apple products, you’re probably familiar with the heavy use of inset shadows. It adds a bit of depth to the UI and can really make the screen look beautiful. Notice the white drop shadow in the title of the window.
I tend to do the same thing a lot for my Android apps. It’s incredibly simple to do. Here’s an example of a TextView with the same inset shadow.
<!-- Semi-opaque white inset shadow beneath the text -->
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
...
android:shadowColor="#88FFFFFF"
android:shadowRadius="0.1"
android:shadowDx="0"
android:shadowDy="1" />
<!-- Semi-opaque black inset shadow above the text -->
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
...
android:shadowColor="#88000000"
android:shadowRadius="0.1"
android:shadowDx="0"
android:shadowDy="-1" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
...
android:shadowColor="#88FFFFFF"
android:shadowRadius="0.1"
android:shadowDx="0"
android:shadowDy="1" />
<!-- Semi-opaque black inset shadow above the text -->
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
...
android:shadowColor="#88000000"
android:shadowRadius="0.1"
android:shadowDx="0"
android:shadowDy="-1" />
And here’s how it looks:
It should look great on all screen sizes. Don’t use the above code strictly, however. Mess around with the color values and shadowRadius value to get the exact effect you’re looking for.
A screenshot of the effect in action (on Android) might be a nice addition. I’m interested how this will looker on smaller, higher DPI screens.
Updated it for you!