Recommendation on the use of support library

[kaushikgopal]

• Should one use the support library?
• When does it make sense to use the support library?
• What are the advantages of using support fragments vs normal fragments (a.k.a android.app.Fragment vs android.support.v4.app.Fragment)?

The answer(s) to the above question might make a lot of sense in an android best practices doc?

[recuutus]

In my opinion:

• Yes
• From the start of the project
• I would recommend using the support library whenever possible. One argument for it is that SL can be updated much more often than Android framework itself if a bug is found. Also the newest API's can get backported to older Android version thanks to the SL.

[staltz]

👍 @recuutus could you send a PR with these advices added into the "libraries" section?

[jaggernod]

OK, will do that when I have some time

[staltz]

Sure

[kaushikgopal]

it's worth listing the disadvantages for support library use too:

1. android.support.v4.app.Fragments do custom animations very differently (they use tween animations instead of object animators which make animations far more easy to deal with).
2. support libraries obviously bump up your apk size.
3. choosing "which" support library is always a mind bending penance-involved decision.
   etc.

(most of these are not deal breaking for a majority of use cases.

[jaggernod]

Created a pull request: #29

[ilkka]

Closed as #29 has been merged.