Illustration by Virginia Poltrack

Android styling: themes vs styles

The Android styling system offers a powerful way to specify your app’s visual design, but it can be easy to misuse. Proper use of it can make themes and styles easier to maintain, make branding updates less scary and make it straightforward to support dark modes. This is the first in a series of articles where

Chris Banes

and I will set out to demystify Android styling so that you can make stylish apps without pulling your hair out.

In this first article, I’ll take a look at the building blocks of the styling system: themes and styles.

Theme != Style

Both themes and styles use the same