Now
is the time to switch to the new Google Play Developer Console
The new Google Play Developer Console is out of preview and is the default experience. In
addition to offering all of the functionality of the old version, the new
version features a streamlined publishing flow, store listings in more
languages with language-specific graphics, and new user ratings statistics, so
you’ll have better tools for delivering great Android apps that delight users.
If you haven't already made the switch, now is the time, as we'll be retiring
the former version on April 15 to focus our efforts on this new experience.
The new Developer Console brings you
new functionality built on top of a quick-to-navigate user experience. You can
add language-specific graphics to your store listing to help your users around
the world understand what your app is about. New graphs let you track your
ratings over time with breakdowns by device, country, app version, and more.
The statistics page now shows you when you released each version of your app,
so you see how each new version changes your installations and ratings, and you
can view crashes specific to an application version. These new features are
only the beginning of what’s to come for developers on Google Play in the
future.
If you're still using the old Developer
Console, now is the time to switch over
fully to the new version by clicking “Try the new version” in the header. Let
us know what you think by clicking the “Feedback” link in the header in the new
Developer Console, and if you experience any serious issues, please contact support. We’re
planning some more improvements in the next month and in the future. Your input
will continue to be key to what we do.
New Developer Console
We have been working hard on
building a new Google Play Developer Console, which we have rolled out to all users. The old version of
the Google Play Developer Console is now deprecated. For a short time, you can
switch back to the old developer console using the instructions below.
Below are some changes that you'll
see in the new version of the Google Play Developer Console:
- Updated look and feel.
- New publishing experience, such as the ability to compare new and old APK versions within the console.
- Create store listings in more languages.
- Statistics on user ratings and reviews.
- Updating your app in the new site makes automated store listing translations available to users on the web.
- Localized graphics for each of the languages where you provide a translation.
Note that if you are experiencing
issues with the new Developer Console, please report them using the Feedback
link at the top of the page in the Developer Console. The feedback link can
also be found in our help center.
Switching
between new and old design
Whenever you need to use a feature
which is not yet supported in the new Developer Console design, simply click on
View in the old site.. To switch back, click on View new design
button.
Feedback
We’d love to hear how new design is
working out for you. Please let us know how we are doing by clicking on Leave
feedback button. You can also contact us via our help center.
Make sure to select the New Developer Console feedback option.
Native RTL support in Android 4.2
Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) introduced limited support
for bidirectional text in TextView and EditText elements,
allowing apps to display and edit text in both left-to-right (LTR) and
right-to-left (RTL) scripts. Android 4.2 added full
native support for RTL layouts, including layout mirroring,
allowing you to deliver the same great app experience to all of your users,
whether their language uses a script that reads right-to-left or one that reads
left-to-right.
If you do nothing, your app will not change — it will continue
to appear as it currently does. However, with a few simple changes, your app
will be automatically mirrored when the user switches the system language to a
right-to-left script (such as Arabic, Hebrew, or Persian). For example, see the
following screenshots of the Settings app:
To take advantage of RTL layout mirroring, simply make the
following changes to your app:
1.
Declare in your app manifest that your app supports RTL
mirroring.
2.
Change all of your app's "left/right" layout properties
to new "start/end" equivalents.
o
If you are targeting your app to Android 4.2 (the app's
targetSdkVersion or minSdkVersion is 17
or higher), then you should use “start” and “end” instead of “left” and
“right”. For example,android:paddingLeft should become android:paddingStart.
o
If you want your app to work with versions earlier than Android
4.2 (the app's
targetSdkVersion orminSdkVersion is 16 or less), then you should add “start”
and end” in addition to “left” and “right”. For example, you’d use
both android:paddingLeft and android:paddingStart.
For more precise control over your app UI in both LTR and RTL
mode, Android 4.2 includes the following new APIs to help manage View
components:
You can even create custom versions of layout, drawables, and
other resources for display when a right-to-left script is in use. Simply use
the resource qualifier "
ldrtl" to tag your resources, meaning
“layout direction right-to-left”. To debug and optimize custom right-to-left layouts, HierarchyViewer now lets you see start/end properties,
layout direction, text direction, and text alignment for all the Views in the
hierarchy.
It's now easy to create beautiful Android apps for all your
users, whether they use a right-to-left or left-to-right language. We look
forward to seeing some great apps!
