id	title
improvingux	Improving User Experience

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'; import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem'; import constants from '@site/core/TabsConstants';

Configure text inputs

Entering text on touch phone is a challenge - small screen, software keyboard. But based on what kind of data you need, you can make it easier by properly configuring the text inputs:

Focus the first field automatically
Use placeholder text as an example of expected data format
Enable or disable autocapitalization and autocorrect
Choose keyboard type (e.g. email, numeric)
Make sure the return button focuses the next field or submits the form

Check out TextInput docs for more configuration options.

import React, {useState, useRef} from 'react';
import {
  Alert,
  Text,
  StatusBar,
  TextInput,
  View,
  StyleSheet,
} from 'react-native';

const App = () => {
  const emailInput = useRef(null);
  const [name, setName] = useState('');
  const [email, setEmail] = useState('');

  const submit = () => {
    Alert.alert(
      `Welcome, ${name}! Confirmation email has been sent to ${email}`,
    );
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <StatusBar barStyle="light-content" />
      <View style={styles.header}>
        <Text style={styles.description}>
          This demo shows how using available TextInput customizations can make
          forms much easier to use. Try completing the form and notice that
          different fields have specific optimizations and the return key
          changes from focusing next input to submitting the form.
        </Text>
      </View>
      <TextInput
        style={styles.input}
        value={name}
        onChangeText={text => setName(text)}
        placeholder="Full Name"
        autoFocus={true}
        autoCapitalize="words"
        autoCorrect={true}
        keyboardType="default"
        returnKeyType="next"
        onSubmitEditing={() => emailInput.current.focus()}
        blurOnSubmit={false}
      />
      <TextInput
        style={styles.input}
        value={email}
        onChangeText={text => setEmail(text)}
        ref={emailInput}
        placeholder="email@example.com"
        autoCapitalize="none"
        autoCorrect={false}
        keyboardType="email-address"
        returnKeyType="send"
        onSubmitEditing={submit}
        blurOnSubmit={true}
      />
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  header: {
    paddingTop: 64,
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: '#282c34',
  },
  description: {
    fontSize: 14,
    color: 'white',
  },
  input: {
    margin: 20,
    marginBottom: 0,
    height: 34,
    paddingHorizontal: 10,
    borderRadius: 4,
    borderColor: '#ccc',
    borderWidth: 1,
    fontSize: 16,
  },
});

export default App;

import React, {useState, useRef} from 'react';
import {
  Alert,
  Text,
  StatusBar,
  TextInput,
  View,
  StyleSheet,
} from 'react-native';

const App = () => {
  const emailInput = useRef<TextInput>(null);
  const [name, setName] = useState('');
  const [email, setEmail] = useState('');

  const submit = () => {
    Alert.alert(
      `Welcome, ${name}! Confirmation email has been sent to ${email}`,
    );
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <StatusBar barStyle="light-content" />
      <View style={styles.header}>
        <Text style={styles.description}>
          This demo shows how using available TextInput customizations can make
          forms much easier to use. Try completing the form and notice that
          different fields have specific optimizations and the return key
          changes from focusing next input to submitting the form.
        </Text>
      </View>
      <TextInput
        style={styles.input}
        value={name}
        onChangeText={text => setName(text)}
        placeholder="Full Name"
        autoFocus={true}
        autoCapitalize="words"
        autoCorrect={true}
        keyboardType="default"
        returnKeyType="next"
        onSubmitEditing={() => emailInput.current?.focus()}
        blurOnSubmit={false}
      />
      <TextInput
        style={styles.input}
        value={email}
        onChangeText={text => setEmail(text)}
        ref={emailInput}
        placeholder="email@example.com"
        autoCapitalize="none"
        autoCorrect={false}
        keyboardType="email-address"
        returnKeyType="send"
        onSubmitEditing={submit}
        blurOnSubmit={true}
      />
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  header: {
    paddingTop: 64,
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: '#282c34',
  },
  description: {
    fontSize: 14,
    color: 'white',
  },
  input: {
    margin: 20,
    marginBottom: 0,
    height: 34,
    paddingHorizontal: 10,
    borderRadius: 4,
    borderColor: '#ccc',
    borderWidth: 1,
    fontSize: 16,
  },
});

export default App;

Manage layout when keyboard is visible

Software keyboard takes almost half of the screen. If you have interactive elements that can get covered by the keyboard, make sure they are still accessible by using the KeyboardAvoidingView component.

import React, {useState, useRef} from 'react';
import {
  Alert,
  Text,
  Button,
  StatusBar,
  TextInput,
  KeyboardAvoidingView,
  View,
  StyleSheet,
} from 'react-native';

const App = () => {
  const emailInput = useRef(null);
  const [email, setEmail] = useState('');

  const submit = () => {
    emailInput.current.blur();
    Alert.alert(`Confirmation email has been sent to ${email}`);
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <StatusBar barStyle="light-content" />
      <View style={styles.header}>
        <Text style={styles.description}>
          This demo shows how to avoid covering important UI elements with the
          software keyboard. Focus the email input below and notice that the
          Sign Up button and the text adjusted positions to make sure they are
          not hidden under the keyboard.
        </Text>
      </View>
      <KeyboardAvoidingView behavior="padding" style={styles.form}>
        <TextInput
          style={styles.input}
          value={email}
          onChangeText={text => setEmail(text)}
          ref={emailInput}
          placeholder="email@example.com"
          autoCapitalize="none"
          autoCorrect={false}
          keyboardType="email-address"
          returnKeyType="send"
          onSubmitEditing={submit}
          blurOnSubmit={true}
        />
        <View>
          <Button title="Sign Up" onPress={submit} />
          <Text style={styles.legal}>Some important legal fine print here</Text>
        </View>
      </KeyboardAvoidingView>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  header: {
    paddingTop: 64,
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: '#282c34',
  },
  description: {
    fontSize: 14,
    color: 'white',
  },
  input: {
    margin: 20,
    marginBottom: 0,
    height: 34,
    paddingHorizontal: 10,
    borderRadius: 4,
    borderColor: '#ccc',
    borderWidth: 1,
    fontSize: 16,
  },
  legal: {
    margin: 10,
    color: '#333',
    fontSize: 12,
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
  form: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'space-between',
  },
});

export default App;

import React, {useState, useRef} from 'react';
import {
  Alert,
  Text,
  Button,
  StatusBar,
  TextInput,
  KeyboardAvoidingView,
  View,
  StyleSheet,
} from 'react-native';

const App = () => {
  const emailInput = useRef<TextInput>(null);
  const [email, setEmail] = useState('');

  const submit = () => {
    emailInput.current?.blur();
    Alert.alert(`Confirmation email has been sent to ${email}`);
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <StatusBar barStyle="light-content" />
      <View style={styles.header}>
        <Text style={styles.description}>
          This demo shows how to avoid covering important UI elements with the
          software keyboard. Focus the email input below and notice that the
          Sign Up button and the text adjusted positions to make sure they are
          not hidden under the keyboard.
        </Text>
      </View>
      <KeyboardAvoidingView behavior="padding" style={styles.form}>
        <TextInput
          style={styles.input}
          value={email}
          onChangeText={text => setEmail(text)}
          ref={emailInput}
          placeholder="email@example.com"
          autoCapitalize="none"
          autoCorrect={false}
          keyboardType="email-address"
          returnKeyType="send"
          onSubmitEditing={submit}
          blurOnSubmit={true}
        />
        <View>
          <Button title="Sign Up" onPress={submit} />
          <Text style={styles.legal}>Some important legal fine print here</Text>
        </View>
      </KeyboardAvoidingView>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  header: {
    paddingTop: 64,
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: '#282c34',
  },
  description: {
    fontSize: 14,
    color: 'white',
  },
  input: {
    margin: 20,
    marginBottom: 0,
    height: 34,
    paddingHorizontal: 10,
    borderRadius: 4,
    borderColor: '#ccc',
    borderWidth: 1,
    fontSize: 16,
  },
  legal: {
    margin: 10,
    color: '#333',
    fontSize: 12,
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
  form: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'space-between',
  },
});

export default App;

Make tappable areas larger

On mobile phones it's hard to be very precise when pressing buttons. Make sure all interactive elements are 44x44 or larger. One way to do this is to leave enough space for the element, padding, minWidth and minHeight style values can be useful for that. Alternatively, you can use hitSlop prop to increase interactive area without affecting the layout. Here's a demo:

import React from 'react';
import {
  Text,
  StatusBar,
  TouchableOpacity,
  View,
  StyleSheet,
} from 'react-native';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <StatusBar barStyle="light-content" />
      <View style={styles.header}>
        <Text style={styles.description}>
          This demo shows how using hitSlop can make interactive elements much
          easier to tap without changing their layout and size. Try pressing
          each button quickly multiple times and notice which one is easier to
          hit.
        </Text>
      </View>
      <View style={styles.content}>
        <TouchableOpacity>
          <Text style={styles.label}>Without hitSlop</Text>
        </TouchableOpacity>
        <View style={styles.separator} />
        <View style={styles.preview}>
          <TouchableOpacity
            hitSlop={{top: 20, left: 20, bottom: 20, right: 20}}>
            <Text style={styles.label}>With hitSlop</Text>
          </TouchableOpacity>
        </View>
      </View>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  header: {
    paddingTop: 64,
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: '#282c34',
  },
  description: {
    fontSize: 14,
    color: 'white',
  },
  content: {
    flex: 1,
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
  label: {
    fontSize: 18,
    color: '#336699',
    textAlign: 'center',
    borderColor: '#ddd',
    borderWidth: 1,
  },
  separator: {
    height: 50,
  },
  preview: {
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: '#f6f6f6',
  },
});

export default App;

Use Android Ripple

Android API 21+ uses the material design ripple to provide user with feedback when they touch an interactable area on the screen. React Native exposes this through the TouchableNativeFeedback component. Using this touchable effect instead of opacity or highlight will often make your app feel much more fitting on the platform. That said, you need to be careful when using it because it doesn't work on iOS or on Android API < 21, so you will need to fallback to using one of the other Touchable components on iOS. You can use a library like react-native-platform-touchable to handle the platform differences for you.

import React from 'react';
import {
  TouchableNativeFeedback,
  TouchableOpacity,
  TouchableHighlight,
  Platform,
  Text,
  View,
  StyleSheet,
} from 'react-native';

const SUPPORTS_NATIVE_FEEDBACK =
  Platform.OS === 'android' && Platform.Version >= 21;

const noop = () => {};
const defaultHitSlop = {top: 15, bottom: 15, right: 15, left: 15};

const ButtonsWithNativeFeedback = () => (
  <View style={styles.buttonContainer}>
    <TouchableNativeFeedback
      onPress={noop}
      background={TouchableNativeFeedback.Ripple('#06bcee', false)}
      hitSlop={defaultHitSlop}>
      <View style={styles.button}>
        <Text style={styles.text}>This is a ripple respecting borders</Text>
      </View>
    </TouchableNativeFeedback>
    <TouchableNativeFeedback
      onPress={noop}
      background={TouchableNativeFeedback.Ripple('#06bcee', true)}
      hitSlop={defaultHitSlop}>
      <View style={styles.button}>
        <Text style={styles.text}>
          This is ripple without borders, this is more useful for icons, eg: in
          tab bar
        </Text>
      </View>
    </TouchableNativeFeedback>
  </View>
);

const Buttons = () => (
  <View style={styles.buttonContainer}>
    <TouchableOpacity
      style={styles.button}
      onPress={noop}
      hitSlop={defaultHitSlop}>
      <Text style={styles.text}>This is opacity</Text>
    </TouchableOpacity>
    <TouchableHighlight
      style={styles.button}
      onPress={noop}
      hitSlop={defaultHitSlop}
      underlayColor="#06bcee">
      <Text style={styles.text}>This is highlight</Text>
    </TouchableHighlight>
  </View>
);

const App = () => (
  <View style={styles.container}>
    {SUPPORTS_NATIVE_FEEDBACK ? <ButtonsWithNativeFeedback /> : <Buttons />}
  </View>
);

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
    paddingTop: 64,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
  },
  buttonContainer: {
    margin: 24,
  },
  text: {
    fontSize: 20,
    color: '#fff',
    fontWeight: 'bold',
  },
  button: {
    padding: 25,
    borderRadius: 5,
    backgroundColor: '#000',
    marginBottom: 30,
  },
});

export default App;

Screen orientation lock

Multiple screen orientations should work fine by default unless you're using Dimensions API and don't handle orientation changes. If you don't want to support multiple screen orientations, you can lock the screen orientation to either portrait or landscape.

On iOS, in the General tab and Deployment Info section of Xcode enable the Device Orientation you want to support (ensure you have selected iPhone from the Devices menu when making the changes). For Android, open the AndroidManifest.xml file and within the activity element add 'android:screenOrientation="portrait"' to lock to portrait or 'android:screenOrientation="landscape"' to lock to landscape.

Learn more

Material Design and Human Interface Guidelines are great resources for learning more about designing for mobile platforms.

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improvingux.md

improvingux.md

Configure text inputs

Manage layout when keyboard is visible

Make tappable areas larger

Use Android Ripple

Screen orientation lock

Learn more

Files

improvingux.md

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improvingux.md

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Configure text inputs

Manage layout when keyboard is visible

Make tappable areas larger

Use Android Ripple

Screen orientation lock

Learn more