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I have seen a fair number of apps use Quick Actions as an access point for key functions. Is there a "time and place" for it? When would you choose Quick Actions over a context menu and vice versa?

Anna Lam
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I would try to use wherever is possible the new design patterns. That would mean the Contextual Action Bar:

http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/selection.html

It looks like Android changes the design patterns every year because the "Quick Actions" pattern was recommend on July 2010 according to this presentation:

http://www.slideshare.net/AndroidDev/android-ui-design-tips

But as I said, I would go with the new ICS design pattern. You can use the Sherlock ActionBar for backward compatibility:

http://actionbarsherlock.com/

MRD
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  • Are there scenarios where the Contextual Action Bar would not be appropriate? – Anna Lam May 31 '12 at 09:11
  • Right now I cannot imagine a scenario where this pattern cannot be applied. If you look to the ICS native apps, almost all of them use this new pattern (Gallery, Gmail, Copy/Paste, Messaging, ...). However, as usual, Google contradicts itself and inside Messaging we can find the Contextual Popup in the list inside a conversation, although in the list of messages the Contextual ActionBar is used. Something annoying for me is to figure out what an action with just icon does, so I would use only icon for really well known actions. – MRD May 31 '12 at 09:29