Coordinator Layout — Image from imgur

Android Design — Coordinator Layout #1: An Introduction

The Coordinator Layout is described as a “a super-powered FrameLayout” according to the docs. It is used to facilitate how views within your layout interact with each other. This is done by creating or assigning specific Behaviors to these views. These Behaviors are core to what makes Material Design unique, and include familiar interactions such as sliding drawers and panels to swipe-dismissable elements and buttons that stick to other elements as they move and animate.

Let’s take a look at Behaviors and how they work. In our next article we shall show a simple example of how to create a Behavior that allows for basic interaction between views in a CoordinatorLayout

Figure 1: Floating Action Button reacting to Snackbar Image courtesy of Nikita Rusin

Behaviors

Behaviors are at the core of CoordinatorLayouts. They represent interactions between 2 or more views in the same layout. They are normally categorized into the following:

1. Layout-Based Behaviors: E.g. when a Snackbar appears from the bottom, the FloatingActionButton immediately translates upwards to accommodate the incoming view as shown in Figure 1 on the left.
Anchoring is also a form of Layout-Based Behavior, for instance…